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AN    INTERPRETATION 

OF  RUDOLF  EUCKEN'S 

PHILOSOPHY 


AN    INTERPRETATION 

OF   RUDOLF   EUCKEN'S 

PHILOSOPHY 


BY 


W.  TUDOR  JONES,  PH.D.  (JENA) 

• 


NEW  YORK:    G.    P.    PUTNAM'S    SONS 

LONDON:   WILLIAMS  AND  NORGATE 

1912 


"Apa  ovv,  d8eA<£oi',  o^eiXerat  eoy/,€i>,  ov  rr}  (rapid  TOV  Kara 
crdpKo,  £,fjv,  «i  yap  Kara,  <rap/ca  ^TC  /xeAXere  a7ro^i/7;(7K€tv,  et  Sc 
7rv€v/xaTt  ras  7rpa^€i5  TOV  <roo/*aTO9  ^avarovTC  tyo-co-Of.  oaot 
yap  irvcv/xaTi  ^cov  ayovroLL,  OVTOL  viol  Ocov  etcrtV. — St  Paul 
(Romans,  viii.  12-14). 


392178 


PREFACE 

THE  personality  and  works  of  Professor  Rudolf 
Eucken  are  at  the  present  day  exercising  such 
a  deep  influence  the  world  over  that  a  volume 
by  one  of  his  old  pupils,  which  attempts  to 
interpret  his  teaching,  should  prove  of  assist- 
ance. It  is  hoped  that  the  essentials  of 
Eucken's  teaching  are  presented  in  this  book, 
in  a  form  which  is  as  simple  as  the  subject- 
matter  allows,  and  which  will  not  necessi- 
tate the  reader  unlearning  anything  when  he 
comes  to  the  author's  most  important  works. 
The  whole  of  the  work  is  expository ;  and  an 
attempt  has  been  made  in  the  foot-notes  to 
point  out  aspects  similar  to  those  of  Eucken's 
in  English  and  German  Philosophy. 

It  is  encouraging  to  find  at  the  present  day 
so  much  interest  in  religious  idealism,  and  it  is 
proved  by  Eucken  beyond  the  possibility  of 
doubt  that  without  some  form  of  such  idealism 
no  individual  or  nation  can  realise  its  deepest 
potencies.  But  with  the  presence  of  such 
idealism  as  a  conviction  in  the  mind  and  life, 
history  teaches  us  that  the  seemingly  impossible 


8  EtfCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

is  partially  realised,  and  that  a  new  depth  of  life 
is  reached.  All  this  does  not  mean  that  the 
individual  is  to  slacken  his  interests  or  to  lose 
his  affection  for  the  material  aspects  of  life ; 
but  it  does  mean  that  the  things  which 
appertain  to  life  have  different  values,  and 
that  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  judge 
them  all  from  the  highest  conceivable  stand- 
point— the  standpoint  of  spiritual  life.  This 
is  Eucken's  distinctive  message  to-day.  The 
message  shows  that  an  actual  evolution  of 
spirit  is  taking  place  in  the  life  of  the  in- 
dividual and  of  human  society ;  and  that  this 
evolution  can  be  guided  by  means  of  the 
concentration  of  the  whole  being  upon  the 
reality  of  the  norms  and  standards  which 
present  themselves  in  the  lives  of  individuals 
and  of  nations.  No  one  particular  science  or 
philosophy  is  able  to  grant  us  this  central 
standpoint  for  viewing  the  field  of  knowledge 
and  the  meaning  of  life.  The  answer  to  the 
complexity  of  the  problem  of  existence  is  to 
be  found  in  something  which  gathers  up  under 
a  larger  and  more  significant  meaning  the 
results  of  knowledge  and  life.  This  volume 
will  attempt  to  elucidate  this  all-important 
point  of  view — a  point  of  view  which  is  so 
needful  in  our  days  of  specialisation  and 
of  material  interests.  It  may  be,  and  Eucken 
and  his  followers  believe  it  is,  that  the  destiny 
of  the  nations  of  the  world  depends  in  the  last 
resort  upon  a  conception  and  conviction  of 


PREFACE  9 

the  reality  of  a  life  deeper  than  that  of  sense 
or  intellect,  although  both  these  may  become 
tributaries  (and  not  hindrances)  to  such  a 
spiritual  life. 

I  have  to  thank  Professor  Eucken  himself 
for  allowing  me  access  to  material  hitherto 
unpublished,  and  for  encouraging  me  in  the 
work.  I  am  bold  enough  to  be  confident  that 
could  I  say  half  of  what  our  revered  teacher 
has  meant  for  me  and  for  hundreds  of  others 
of  his  old  pupils,  this  volume  would  be  the 
means  of  helping  many  who  are  drifting  from 
their  old  moorings  to  find  an  anchorage  in  a 
spiritual  world. 

W.  TUDOR  JONES. 

HIGHBURY,  LONDON,  N., 

November  1,  1912. 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PAOB 

PREFACE     ........          7 

1.  INTRODUCTION 13 

2.  RELIGION  AND  EVOLUTION  ....       26 

3.  RELIGION  AND  NATURAL  SCIENCE          .         .         -57 

4.  RELIGION  AND  HISTORY       .....       70 

5.  RELIGION  AND  PSYCHOLOGY          .         .         .         .87 

6.  RELIGION  AND  SOCIETY 108 

7.  RELIGION  AND  ART     .         .         .         .         .         .119 

8.  UNIVERSAL  RELIGION   .         .         .         .         .         .128 

9.  CHARACTERISTIC  RELIGION 151 

10.  THE  HISTORICAL  RELIGIONS          .         .         .         .166 

11.  CHRISTIANITY 180 

12.  PRESENT-DAY    ASPECTS      OF      PHILOSOPHY     AND 

RELIGION          .......     206 

13.  EUCKEN'S  PERSONALITY  AND  INFLUENCE        .  227 

14.  CONCLUSION          .......  236 

LIST  OF  EUCKEN'S  WORKS 245 

INDEX        .........  249 

ii 


AN  INTERPRETATION  OF 

RUDOLF  EUCKEN'S 
PHILOSOPHY 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION 

RUDOLF  EUCKEN  was  born  at  Aurich,  East 
Frisia,  on  the  5th  of  January  1846.  He  lost 
his  father  when  quite  a  child.  His  mother, 
the  daughter  of  a  Liberal  clergyman,  was 
a  woman  of  deep  religious  experience  and 
of  rich  intellectual  gifts.  When  quite  a  boy 
he  came  at  school  under  the  influence  of  the 
theologian  Reuter,  a  man  of  wonderful  fasci- 
nation to  young  men.  The  questions  of 
religion  and  the  need  of  religious  experience 
interested  Eucken  early,  and  these  have  never 
parted  from  him  during  the  long  years  which 
have  since  passed  away. 

At  an  early  age  he  entered  the  University 
of  Gottingen  and  attended  the  philosophical 
classes  of  Hermann  Lotze.  Lotze  interested 
him  in  philosophical  problems,  but  did  not 

13 


14  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

satisfy  the  burning  desire  for  religious  experi- 
ence which  was  in  the  young  man's  soul. 
Lotze  looked  at  religion  and  all  else  from  the 
intellectual  point  of  view.  His  main  business 
was  to  discover  proofs  for  the  things  of  the 
spirit,  and  the  value  of  his  work  in  this 
direction  cannot  be  overestimated.  Hermann 
Lotze's  works  are  with  us  to-day ;  and  he  has 
probably  made  more  important  contributions 
to  philosophy  and  religion  from  the  scientific 
side  than  any  other  writer  of  the  latter  half 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  But  he  seems  to 
have  been  a  man  who  was  inclined  to  conceive 
of  reality  as  something  which  had  value  only 
in  so  far  as  it  was  known,  and  left  very  largely 
out  of  account  the  inchoate  stirrings  and 
aspirations  which  are  found  at  a  deeper  level 
within  the  human  soul  than  the  knowing  level. 
Life  is  larger  and  deeper  than  logic,  and  is 
something,  despite  all  our  efforts,  which  resists 
being  reduced  to  logical  propositions.  It  is 
quite  easy  to  understand  how  a  young  man 
of  Eucken's  temperament  and  training  should 
acquiesce  in  all  the  logical  treatment  of  Lotze's 
philosophy,  and  still  find  that  more  was  to 
be  obtained  from  other  sources  which  had 
quenched  the  thirst  of  the  great  men  of  the 
past. 

When  Eucken  entered  the  University  of 
Berlin  he  came  into  contact  with  a  teacher  who 
helped  him  immensely  in  the  quest  for  religion, 
and  in  the  interpretation  of  religion  as  the 


INTRODUCTION  15 

issue  of  that  quest.  Adolf  Trendelenburg  was 
a  great  teacher  as  well  as  a  noble  idealist, 
and  his  influence  upon  young  Eucken  was 
very  great.  Indeed,  it  seems  that  Trendelen- 
burg's  influence  was  great  on  the  life  of  every 
young  man  who  was  fortunate  enough  to  come 
into  contact  with  him.  The  late  Professor 
Paulsen,  in  his  beautiful  autobiography,  A  us 
meinem  Leben  (1909),  presents  us  with  a 
vivid  picture  of  Trendelenburg  and  his  work. 
Under  him  the  pupils  came  into  close  touch 
not  only  with  the  meaning  but  also  with  the 
spirit  of  Plato  and  Aristotle.  The  pupils 
were  made  to  see  the  ideal  life  in  all  its  charm 
and  glory.  The  great  Professor  had  all  his 
lifetime  lived  and  meditated  in  this  pure 
atmosphere,  and  possessed  the  gift  of  infusing 
something  of  his  own  enthusiasm  into  the 
minds  and  spirits  of  his  hearers.  Eucken  has 
stated  on  several  occasions  his  indebtedness  to 
Trendelenburg.  The  young  student  entered 
the  temple  of  philosophy  through  the  gate- 
ways of  philology  and  history.  This  was  a 
great  gain,  for  the  barricading  of  these  two 
gateways  against  philosophy  has  produced 
untold  mischief  in  the  past.  At  present  men 
are  beginning  to  see  this  mistake,  and  we 
are  witnessing  to-day  the  phenomenon  of 
the  indissoluble  connection  of  language  and 
history  with  philosophy.  In  fact,  the  new 
leanings  given  to  language  and  history  are 
meanings  of  things  which  happened  in  the 


16  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

culture  and  civilisations  of  individuals  and 
of  nations,  and  such  a  material  casts  light  on 
the  processes,  meaning,  and  significance  of  the 
human  mind  and  spirit. 

Eucken  learnt  this  truth  in  Berlin  at  a  very 
early  age,  and  his  life  and  teaching  ever  since 
have  been  a  further  development  of  it.  This 
fact  has  to  be  borne  in  mind  in  order  that 
we  may  understand  the  prominence  he  gives 
to  religion,  religious  idealism,  spiritual  life,  and 
other  similar  concepts — concepts  which  are 
largely  foreign  to  ordinary  philosophy  and 
which  are  only  to  be  found  in  that  mysterious, 
all-important  borderland  of  philosophy  and 
religion. 

After  graduating  as  Doctor  of  Philosophy  in 
the  University  of  Gdttingen,  we  find  him  pre- 
paring himself  as  a  High  School  teacher,  in 
which  position  he  remained  for  five  years. 

In  1871  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Philo- 
sophy in  the  University  of  Basel.  In  1874  he 
receiveda  "call"to  succeed  thelateKuno  Fischer 
as  Professor  of  Philosophy  in  the  renowned  Uni- 
versity of  Jena.  It  is  here,  in  the  "  little  nest " 
of  Goethe  and  Schiller,  that  Eucken  has  re- 
mained in  spite  of  "calls"  to  universities 
situated  in  larger  towns  and  carrying  with 
them  larger  salaries.  It  is  fortunate  for  Jena 
that  Eucken  has  thus  decided.  He,  along  with 
his  late  colleague  Otto  Liebmann,  has  kept  up 
the  philosophical  tradition  of  Jena.  In  spite 
of  modern  developments  and  the  presence  of 


INTRODUCTION  17 

new  university  buildings,  Jena  still  remains  an 
old-world  place.  To  read  the  tablets  on  the 
walls  of  the  old  houses  has  a  fascination,  and 
brings  home  the  fact  that  in  this  small  out-of- 
the-way  town  large  numbers  of  the  most 
creative  minds  of  Europe  have  studied  and 
taught.  The  traditions  of  Goethe  and  Schiller 
still  linger  around  the  old  buildings  and  in  the 
historical  consciousness  of  the  people.  Here 
Fichte  taught  his  great  idealism — an  idealism 
which  has  meant  so  much  in  the  evolution  of 
the  Germany  of  the  nineteenth  century ;  here 
Hegel  was  engaged  on  his  great  Phenomeno- 
logy of  Spirit  when  Napoleon's  army  entered 
the  town ;  here  Schopenhauer  sent  his  great 
dissertation  and  received  his  doctor's  degree 
in  absentia ;  here  too,  the  Kantian  philosophy 
found  friends  who  started  it  on  its  "  grand 
triumphant  march  " — a  philosophy  which  raised 
new  problems  which  have  been  with  us  ever 
since,  and  which  gave  a  new  method  of  ap- 
proaching philosophical  questions  ;  here  Schel- 
ling  revived  modern  mysticism  and  attempted 
the  construction  of  a  great  Weltanschauung. 
But  only  a  small  portion  of  the  greatness  of 
Jena  can  be  touched  on.  Eucken  has  nobly 
upheld  the  great  traditions  of  the  place,  not 
only  as  a  philosophical  thinker  but  also  as  a 
personality. 

What  is  the  secret  of  Eucken's  influence? 
It  is  due  greatly,  it  is  true,  to  his  writings  and 
their  original  contents,  for  it  is  not  possible  for 


18  BUCKETS   PHILOSOPHY 

a  man  to  hide  his  inner  being  when  he  writes 
on  the  deepest  questions  concerning  life  and 
death.  A  great  deal  of  Eucken's  personality 
may  be  discovered  in  his  writings.  Opening 
any  page  of  his  books,  one  sees  something 
unique,  passionate,  and  somehow  always  deeper 
than  what  may  be  confined  within  the  limits  of 
the  understanding,  and  something  which  has  to 
be  lived  in  order  to  be  understood.  And  to 
know  the  man  is  to  realise  this  in  a  fuller 
measure  than  his  writings  can  ever  show.  He 
has  to  be  seen  and  heard  before  the  real  signi- 
ficance of  his  message  becomes  clear.  His 
personality  attracts  men  and  women  of  all 
schools  of  thought,  from  all  parts  of  the  world, 
and  they  all  feel  that  his  message  of  a  reality 
which  is  beyond  knowledge — though  knowledge 
forms  an  integral  part  of  it — is  a  new  revela- 
tion of  the  meaning  of  life  and  existence.  Pro- 
fessor Windelband,  in  his  History  of  Philosophy 
and  elsewhere,  describes  Eucken  as  the  creator 
of  a  new  Metaphysic — a  metaphysic  not  of  the 
Schools  but  of  Life.  This  aspect  will  be  dis- 
cussed at  fuller  length  in  later  pages,  so  that  it 
may  be  passed  over  for  the  present. 

Eucken  believes  in  the  reality  and  necessity 
of  his  message.  He  is  aware  that  that  message 
is  contrary  to  the  current  terminology  and 
meaning  of  the  philosophy  of  our  day.  Some 
of  his  great  constructive  books  were  written  as 
far  back  as  1888,  and  have  remained,  almost 
until  our  own  day,  in  a  large  measure  unnoticed. 


INTRODUCTION  19 

The  Einheit  des  Geisteslebens  in  Bewusstsein 
und  Tat  der  Menschheit  is  a  case  in  point.  It 
is  one  of  his  greatest  books,  and  its  value  was 
not  seen  until  the  last  few  years.  But  the 
philosophy  of  the  present  day  in  Germany  is 
tending  more  and  more  in  the  direction  of 
Eucken's.  Writers  such  as  the  late  Class  and 
Dilthey,  Siebeck,  Windelband,  Miinsterberg, 
Rickert,  Volkelt,  Troeltsch — naming  but  a 
small  number  of  the  idealistic  thinkers  of  the 
present — are  tending  in  the  direction  of  the 
new  Metaphysic  presented  by  Eucken  in  the 
book  already  referred  to  as  well  as  in  the 
Kampfum  einen  geistigen  Lebensinhalt. 

The  philosophy  of  Germany  at  the  present 
day  is  making  several  attempts  at  a  metaphysic 
of  the  universe.  Much  critical  and  con- 
structive work  has  been  done  during  the  past 
quarter  of  a  century  and  is  being  done  to-day. 
The  attempts  to  construct  systems  of  meta- 
physics may  be  witnessed  on  the  sides  of 
natural  science  and  of  philosophy.  Haeckel, 
Ostwald,  and  Mach  have  each  given  the 
world  a  constructive  system  of  thought.  But 
these  three  systems  have  not,  except  in 
a  secondary  way,  attempted  a  metaphysic 
of  human  life.  Haeckel's  system  is  mainly 
poetico-mythical,  chiefly  on  the  lines  of  some 
of  the  pre-Socratic  philosophers.  Ostwald's 
attempt  is  to  show  the  unity  of  nature  and 
life  through  his  principle  of  Energetics ;  and 
Mach's  may  be  described  as  an  inverted  kind 


20  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

of  Kantianism  in  regard  to  the  problem  of 
subject  and  object. 

None  of  these  has  attempted  a  reconstruc- 
tion of  philosophy  from  the  side  of  the  content 
of  consciousness ;  in  fact,  they  all  find  their 
explanation  of  consciousness  in  connection 
with  physical  and  organic  phenomena  observed 
on  planes  below  those  of  the  mental  and  ideal 
life  of  man.  Such  work  is  necessary ;  but  if 
it  comes  forward  as  a  complete  explanation  of 
man,  it  is,  as  Eucken  points  out  again  and 
again,  a  wretched  caricature  of  life.  To  know 
the  connection  of  consciousness  with  the  or- 
ganic and  inorganic  world  is  not  to  know  con- 
sciousness in  anything  more  than  its  history. 
It  may  have  been  similar  to,  or  even  identical 
with,  physical  manifestations  of  life,  but  it  is 
not  so  now.  Eucken  admits  entirely  this  fact 
of  the  history  of  mind ;  but  the  meaning  of 
mind  is  to  be  discovered  not  so  much  in  its 
Whence  as  in  its  present  potency  and  its 
Whither.1  A  philosophy  of  science  is  bound 
to  recognise  this  difference,  or  else  all  its  con- 
structions can  represent  no  more  than  a  torso. 
Physical  impressions  enter  into  consciousness, 

1  It  is  not  only  in  Germany,  but  also  in  England,  that 
natural  scientists  forget  this  important  fact.  The  Pre- 
sidential Address  of  Professor  Schafer  at  the  British 
Association  (September  1912)  is  an  instance  of  attempting 
to  explain  life  in  terms  of  its  history  and  of  its  lowest 
common  denominator.  And  huge  assumptions  have  to  be 
made  in  order  to  explain  as  little  as  this. 


INTRODUCTION  21 

and  doubtless  in  important  ways  condition  it, 
but  they  are  not  physical  once  man  becomes 
conscious  of  them.  A  union  of  subject  and 
object  has  now  taken  place,  and  consequently 
a  new  beginning — a  beginning  which  cannot 
be  interpreted  in  terms  of  the  things  of  sense- 
starts  on  its  course.  This  is  Eucken's  stand- 
point, and  it  is  no  other  than  the  carrying 
farther  of  some  of  the  important  results  Kant 
arrived  at. 

This  difference  between  the  natural  and 
the  mental  sciences  has  been  emphasised,  at 
various  times,  since  the  time  of  Plato.  But 
the  difference  tended  to  become  obliterated 
through  the  discoveries  of  natural  science  and 
its  great  influence  during  the  latter  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  The  key  of  evolution 
had  come  at  last  into  the  hands  of  men,  and 
it  fitted  so  many  closed  doors ;  it  provided  an 
entrance  to  a  new  kind  of  world,  and  gave 
new  methods  for  knowing  that  world.  But, 
as  already  stated,  evolution  is  capable  of  deal- 
ing with  what  is  in  the  light  of  what  was,  and 
the  Is  and  the  Was  are  the  physical  character- 
istics of  things.  In  all  this,  mind  and  morals, 
as  they  are  in  their  own  intrinsic  nature  operat- 
ing in  the  world,  are  left  out  of  account.  A 
striking  example  of  this  is  found  in  the  late 
Professor  Huxley's  Romanes  Lecture — Evolu- 
tion and  Ethics.  In  this  remarkable  lecture 
it  is  shown  that  the  cosmic  order  does  not 
answer  all  our  questions,  and  is  indifferent 


22  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

and  even  antagonistic  to  our  ethical  needs 
and  ideals.  Huxley's  conclusion  may  be  justly 
designated  as  a  failure  of  science  to  interpret 
the  greatest  things  of  life.  Before  culture, 
civilisation,  and  morality  become  possible,  a 
new  point  of  departure  has  to  take  place  within 
human  consciousness,  and  the  attempt  to  move 
in  an  ethical  direction  is  as  much  hindered  as 
helped  by  the  natural  course  of  the  physical  uni- 
verse. This  lecture  of  Huxley's  runs  parallel 
in  many  ways  with  Eucken's  differentiation  of 
Nature  and  Spirit,  and  Huxley's  "  ethical  life  " 
has  practically  the  same  meaning  as  Eucken's 
"  spiritual  life"  on  its  lower  levels. 

Numerous  instances  are  to  be  found  in  the 
present-day  philosophy  of  Germany  of  the 
need  of  a  Metaphysic  of  Life,  and  of  the 
impossibility  of  constructing  such  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  results  of  the  natural  sciences 
either  singly  or  combined. 

Professor  Rickert's  investigations  are  having 
important  effects  in  this  respect.  In  his  works 
he  has  made  abundantly  clear  the  difference 
between  the  methods  and  results  of  the  sciences 
of  Nature  and  the  sciences  of  Mind.  And 
even  amongst  the  mental  sciences  themselves, 
all-important  aspects  of  different  subject- 
matters  present  themselves,  and  render  them- 
selves as  of  different  values. 

Professor  Miinsterberg  has  worked  on  a 
similar  path,  and  has  insisted  once  more  on 
the  nature  of  reality  as  this  expresses  itself  in 


INTRODUCTION  23 

a  meaning  which  is  over-individual.  Professor 
Windelband's  writings  (cf.  Praludien,  Die 
Philosophic  im  XX.  Jahrhundert,  etc.)  have 
emphasised  very  clearly  the  need  of  the  presence 
and  acknowledgment  of  norms  in  life,  and  of 
the  meaning  of  life  realising  itself  in  the  fulfil- 
ment of  these  norms.1 

When  we  turn  to  the  great  neo- Kantian 
movement,  we  find  alongside  of  discussions 
concerning  psychological  questions  important 
ethical  aspects  presenting  themselves.  The 
works  of  the  late  Professor  Otto  Liebmann 
of  Jena  (cf.  the  last  part  of  his  Analysis  der 
Wirklichkeit]  and  of  the  late  Professor  Dirt  hey 
and  Dr.  G.  Simmel  point  in  the  same  direc- 
tion. Professors  Husserl,  Lipps,  and  Vaihinger, 
as  their  most  recent  important  books  show, 
work  on  lines  which  insist  on  bringing  life  as  it 
is  and  as  it  ought  to  be  into  their  systems.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  Professor  Wundt's  works 
in  so  far  as  they  present  a  constructive  system. 

But  the  ground  was  fallow  twenty-five  years 
ago  when  some  of  Eucken's  important  works 
made  their  appearance.  Even  as  late  as  1896 
he  complains  of  this  in  the  preface  of  his 
Kainpf  urn  einen  geistigen  Lebensinhalt :  "  I 
am  aware  that  the  explanations  offered  in  this 

1  A  fuller  treatment  of  this  subject  will  be  found  in  my 
forthcoming  volume.  Pathways  to  Religion.  It  is  incorrect 
to  state  with  Professor  Sorley  (Recent  Tendencies  in 
Ethics,  p.  30)  that  "  her  [Germany's]  philosophy  betrays  the 
dominance  of  material  interests." 


24  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

volume  will  prove  themselves  to  be  in  direct 
antagonism  to  the  mental  currents  which  pre- 
vail to-day." *  He  states  that  his  standpoint  is 
different  from  that  of  the  conventional  and 
official  idealism  then  in  vogue.  By  this  he 
means,  on  the  one  hand,  the  "  absolute  ideal- 
ism "  which  constructed  systems  entirely  un- 
connected with  science  or  experience — systems 
whose  Absolute  had  no  direct  relationship  with 
man,  or  which  made  no  appeal  to  anything  of 
a  similar  nature  to  itself  in  the  deeper  ex- 
perience of  the  soul ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  degeneration  of  the  neo-Kantian  move- 
ment to  a  mere  description  of  the  relations 
of  bodily  and  mental  processes. 

Probably  enough  has  been  said  to  show  that 
the  idealistic  systems  of  Germany  are  tending 
more  and  more  in  the  direction  of  a  philosophy 
which  attempts  to  take  into  account  not  only 
the  results  of  the  physical  sciences  and  psycho- 
logy, but  also  those  of  the  norms  of  history  and 
of  the  over-individual  contents  of  consciousness. 

It  has  been  stated  by  several  critics  in 
England,  Germany,  and  America,  that  Eucken 
has  ignored  the  results  of  physical  science  and 
psychology.  This  was  partially  true  in  the 
past,  when  his  main  object  was  to  present  his 

1  An  important  article  on  this  book  appeared  in  Mind 
during  1 896,  and,  as  far  as  I  can  trace,  this  seems  to  be  the 
first  serious  attention  which  was  given  to  Eueken's  writings 
in  England.  A  translation  of  the  volume  will  appear 
shortly  by  Messrs  Williams  &  Norgate. 


INTRODUCTION  25 

own  metaphysic  of  life.  The  problems  of 
science  and  psychology  had  to  take  a  secondary 
place,  but  it  is  incorrect  to  state  that  these 
problems  were  ignored.  It  is  remarkable  how 
Eucken  has  kept  himself  abreast  of  these 
results  which  are  outside  his  own  province.1 
But  he  has  been  all  along  conscious  of  the 
limitations  of  these  results  of  natural  science 
and  psychology.  The  results  fail  to  connote 
the  phenomena  of  consciousness  and  its  mean- 
ing. While  Eucken  has  accepted  these  results, 
I  have  not  seen  any  evidence  that  any  of  his 
conceptions  concerning  the  main  core  of  his 
teaching — the  spiritual  life — are  disproved  by 
any  of  them.  He  shows  us,  as  will  be  elucidated 
later,  that  as  sensations  point  in  the  direction 
of  percepts,  and  percepts  in  the  direction  of 
concepts,  so  concepts  point  in  the  direction  of 
something  which  is  beyond  themselves.  And 
as  the  meaning  of  reality  reveals  itself  the 
more  we  pass  along  the  mysterious  transition 
from  sensation  to  concept,  so  a  further  meaning 
of  reality  is  revealed  when  concepts  search 
for  a  depth  beyond  themselves.  This  is  the 
clue  to  Eucken's  teaching  in  regard  to  spiritual 
life.  It  is  a  further  development  of  the  nature 
of  man — a  development  beyond  the  empirical 
and  the  mental.  And  the  object  of  the  follow- 
ing chapters  will  be  to  show  this  from  various 
points  of  view. 

1  Cf.  Main   Currents  of  Modern  Thought,  translated    by 
Dr  M.  Booth  (1912). 


CHAPTER   II 

RELIGION   AND   EVOLUTION 

EUCKEN  accepts  gladly  the  theory  of  descent 
in  Darwinism,  but  insists  that  the  theory  of 
selection  must  be  clearly  distinguished  from  it. 
He  agrees  with  Edward  von  Hartmann  that 
the  doctrine  of  selection  is  inadequate  to 
explain  the  phenomena  of  life.  But,  as  he 
points  out,  there  is  much  which  is  true  and 
helpful  in  the  theory  of  selection  even  in 
regard  to  human  life.  "  In  all  quarters  there 
is  a  widespread  inclination  to  go  back  to  the 
simplest  possible  beginnings,  which  exhibit 
man  closely  related  to  the  animal  world,  to 
trace  back  the  upward  movement  not  to  an 
inner  impulse,  but  to  a  gradual  forward  thrust 
produced  by  outward  necessities,  and  to  under- 
stand it  as  a  mere  adaptation  to  environment 
and  the  conditions  of  life.  It  seems  to  be  a 
mere  question  of  natural  existence,  of  victory 
in  the  struggle  against  rivals."1  But  he  is  not 
satisfied  that  such  an  explanation  covers  the 

1  Main  Currents  of  Modern  Thought,  p.  259- 
26 


RELIGION   AND   EVOLUTION  27 

phenomena  of  consciousness.  If  there  were  no 
more  than  this  at  work  in  the  higher  forms  of 
life,  the  things  of  value — the  things  which  have 
meant  so  much  in  the  upward  development  of 
humanity — would  be  reduced  to  mere  adjuncts 
of  physical  existence.  If  mental  and  moral 
values  mean  no  more  than  this,  they  are  simply 
annihilated.  But  the  values  of  life  are  some- 
thing quite  other  than  any  physical  manifestion ; 
and  however  much  they  are  conditioned  by 
physical  changes  it  is  inconceivable  that  what 
is  purely  physical  should  be  the  sole  cause 
of  them.  Man  would  never  have  risen  so  far 
above  Nature,  and  become  able  to  be  conscious 
of  his  own  personality  and  of  the  meaning  of 
the  world,  had  there  not  been  present  from  the 
very  beginning  some  spiritual  potency  which 
could  receive  the  impressions  of  the  external 
world  and  bind  them  together  into  some  kind 
of  connected  Whole.  This  connected  Whole 
may  be  no  more  in  the  beginning  than  a 
potency  without  any  content,  and  its  roots 
may  be  discerned  in  the  world  below  man  ; 
but  without  such  a  potency,  different  in  its 
nature  from  physical  things,  the  whole  meaning 
of  the  evolution  of  mind  and  spirit  is  utterly 
unintelligible.  But  what  can  this  potency 
mean  but  something  which  includes  within 
itself  the  germ  of  that  which  later  comes  out 
in  the  form  of  the  values  which  have  been 
gained  in  the  life  of  the  individual  and  of  the 
race? 


28  BUCKETS  PHILOSOPHY 

In  order  to  understand  Eucken's  concep- 
tions concerning  Spirit,  Whole,  Totality,  and 
other  similar  terms,  this  fact  has  to  be  borne 
in  mind.  The  capacity  for  more  is  present  in 
man's  nature.  It  may  remain  dormant  in  a 
large  measure,  but  it  is  not  entirely  so,  as 
witnessed  by  the  fact  that  men  have  scaled 
heights  far  above  Nature  and  the  ordinary  life 
of  the  day.  And  humanity,  on  the  whole,  has 
climbed  to  a  height  to  give  some  degree  of 
meaning  to  the  life  of  the  day — a  meaning 
superior  to  physical  impressions,  and  which  is 
able  to  see  somewhat  behind,  around,  and 
beyond  itself.  Wherever  this  happens,  it 
comes  about  through  the  presence  and  activity 
of  the  life  of  the  spirit  within  man.  The 
spiritual  life  is,  then,  a  possession  of  man,  but 
it  is  a  possession  only  in  so  far  as  it  is  used. 
It  is  subject  to  helps  and  hindrances  from  the 
world ;  it  is  not  freed  from  its  own  content ; 
it  can  never  say,  "  So  far  and  no  further  accord- 
ing to  the  bond  and  the  duty " ;  it  has  to 
undergo  a  toilsome  struggle  before  it  can  ever 
become  the  possessor  of  the  new  kind  of  world 
to  which  it  has  a  right. 

In  all  this  we  notice  something  in  the  new 
world  of  consciousness  similar  to  what  happens 
within  the  physical  world.  In  the  world  of 
nature  no  animate  (and  probably  no  inanimate) 
thing  has  received  a  donum  which  it  may  pre- 
serve as  its  own  without  effort.  Everything 
that  has  value  has  to  be  preserved  through 


RELIGION   AND  EVOLUTION  29 

struggles  necessitated  by  the  changing  condi- 
tions of  the  impinging  environment  as  well 
as  struggles  between  contrary  characteristics 
within  the  nature  of  the  thing  itself.  Other- 
wise nothing  could  maintain  its  identity  and 
individuality  at  all.  There  must  be  some  core 
in  everything  which  exists  as  an  individual 
thing.  This  individuality  is  seen  more  clearly 
as  the  scale  of  existence  is  mounted.  In  the 
organic  world  each  thing  lives  in  a  more  or 
less  degree  its  own  life,  however  much  that 
life  is  conditioned  and  even  hindered  by  the 
environment.  What  is  it,  then,  that  keeps 
the  thing  together?  It  is  some  point  of 
union  of  elements  otherwise  scattered.  When 
we  come  to  man  we  see  this  more  clearly  than 
in  the  world  below  him.  This  core  is  a  kind 
of  Whole  made  up  of  isolated  impressions 
mingling  with  a  potency  different  in  nature 
from  themselves,  and  transmuting  them  to 
its  own  nature  in  the  forms  of  self-con- 
sciousness, meanings,  values.  This  potency— 
this  Whole — although  present  from  the  very 
beginning  as  the  condition  of  becoming  con- 
scious of  anything,  yet  remains  in  constant 
change.  Impressions  pour  in  through  the 
senses,  enter  the  Whole  that  is  already 
present;  they  drop  their  content  into  that 
Whole  by  means  of  the  senses,  and  the 
miracle  of  transmutation,  entirely  mysterious, 
takes  place. 

This  point  is  not  new.     It  is  a  fact  well 


30  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

known  in  the  history  of  psychology,  and 
played  a  very  prominent  part  in  the  psychology 
of  Kant.  But  Eucken  has  deepened  the 
conception  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  able  to  rid 
himself  of  the  postulates  of  Kant  concerning 
God,  Freedom,  and  Immortality.  The  germs 
of  these,  according  to  the  meaning  of  Eucken, 
are  within  the  spiritual  life  itself,  and  not 
transcendent  in  the  form  presented  by  Kant  or 
external  as  presented  by  Hegel.  There  is, 
then,  within  consciousness  a  process  in  many 
respects  analogous  to  the  natural  process. 
And  as  the  meaning  of  the  physical  universe 
has  become  clearer  through  the  conception  of 
evolution,  so  the  meaning  of  consciousness, 
originating  in  a  higher  world  than  Nature,  will 
become  clearer  if  viewed  in  a  similar  manner. 
Let  us  then  turn  to  one  of  the  most  important 
aspects  of  Eucken's  work,  Evolution  and 
Religion. 

Eucken's  deepest,  and  consequently  the 
most  difficult,  account  of  the  meaning  of 
religion  is  to  be  found  in  his  Truth  of  Religion 
and  his  Kampf  um  einen  geistigen  Lebens- 
inhalt.  It  is  important  to  deal  with  the 
concept  of  the  spiritual  life  at  this  stage  of 
our  inquiry,  for  it  is  the  pivot  around  which 
the  whole  of  Eucken's  philosophy  turns. 

The  essence  of  religion  is  conceived  by  him 
as  the  possession  by  man  of  an  eternal  ex- 
istence in  the  midst  of  time ;  of  the  presence 
of  an  over-world  in  the  midst  of  this  world 


RELIGION  AND   EVOLUTION  31 

— guiding  man  to  the  revelation  of  a  Divine 
Will. 

This  is  Eucken's  main  thesis,  and  connected 
with  this  thesis  is  the  fact  that  religion  can 
come  to  birth  in  the  soul  of  man  only  through 
a  conquest  of  the  ordinary,  natural  world  which 
surrounds  him.  The  world  which  surrounds  him 
hinders  more  than  it  helps  the  birth  of  religion 
in  the  soul.  The  aim  of  religion  is  therefore 
not  the  perfecting  of  man  in  a  natural  sense, 
but  the  bringing  about  of  a  union  of  human 
nature  and  the  Divine.  Religion  must  there- 
fore include  a  "world-denial  and  a  world- 
renewal."  There  is  not  enough  for  man's 
deeper  nature  either  in  the  physical  world  or 
in  the  ordinary  life  of  the  hour.  The  natural 
world  knows  of  no  complete  self-subsistence, 
for  everything  is  connected  with  its  environ- 
ment, and  it  is  in  this  connection  with  its 
environment  that  life  below  man  largely  ob- 
tains its  existence.  But  in  man  we  discover 
a  transition  stage  from  the  sensuous  to  the 
non-sensuous,  and  it  is  in  the  latter  that  the 
meaning  of  the  former  can  be  obtained.  The 
history  of  civilisation  and  culture  is  a  history  of 
this  all-important  fact.  The  meaning  of  man 
is,  therefore,  not  to  be  found  in  his  relationship 
to  the  physical  world,  but  in  his  own  conscious- 
ness. Although  we  may  not  be  aware  of  it, 
consciousness  is  the  power  which,  in  the  long 
and  slow  progress  of  the  ages,  has  overcome 
the  sensuous  and  made  it  subservient  to  the 


32  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

meaning  and  value  which  its  own  content  of 
experience  has  presented.  The  necessity  and 
proof  of  religion  are  not  then  discovered  in  any- 
thing in  the  external  world,  but  in  the  realisa- 
tion of  the  fact  that  we  are  meant  to  be  citizens 
of  a  world  higher  in  its  nature,  the  birthright 
of  which  is  to  be  found  within  our  own  nature. 
The  conquest  of  nature  and  the  growth  of 
culture  are  proofs  to  man  of  his  superiority  to 
the  world  of  sense  impressions.  This  denial 
of  the  sufficiency  of  the  world  of  sense  in  the 
evolution  of  the  human  soul,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  affirmation  of  the  potentiality  of  a 
higher  world  of  spirit  on  the  other  hand, 
constitute  the  nucleus  of  the  Christian  religion. 
Its  superiority  consists  in  giving  their  rights  to 
both  worlds,  and  also  in  showing  that  they  do 
not  possess  the  same  value.  This  essential 
nature  of  Christianity  will  be  demonstrated 
later. 

We  must  return,  then,  to  consciousness 
itself  and  see  what  may  be  discovered  within 
it  concerning  the  meaning  of  religion.  The 
great  thinkers  of  the  ages  have  all  been  agreed 
as  to  the  impossibility  of  finding  sufficient 
proofs  and  meanings  of  religion  either  from 
Nature  or  from  some  supernatural  source 
flowing  in  a  miraculous  manner  towards  our 
earth.  The  growth  and  interpretation  of 
natural  science  in  modern  times  have  rendered 
it  impossible  to  find  proofs  of  religion  in  any 
external  mode.  Yet  the  problems  of  man's 


RELIGION  AND  EVOLUTION  33 

Whence  and  Whither  raise  themselves  with 
energy  and  even  tragedy  in  our  own  day. 
These,  as  Eucken  points  out,  are  "problems 
concerning  our  Whence  and  Whither,  our 
dependence  upon  strange  powers,  the  painful 
antitheses  within  our  own  soul,  the  stubborn 
barriers  to  our  spiritual  potencies,  the  flaws  in 
love  and  righteousness,  in  Nature  and  in  human 
nature ;  in  a  word,  the  apparent  total  loss  of 
what  we  dare  not  renounce — our  best  and 
most  real  treasures."1  The  loss  takes  place 
because  we  have  been  looking  outward  instead 
of  inward  for  support,  and  prop  after  prop  has 
given  way.  This  is  the  situation  to-day,  and 
it  has  been  brought  about  by  no  evil  power, 
but  by  the  gradual  dawning  of  the  meaning 
of  things.  Still,  it  is  not  the  whole  meaning 
of  things,  for,  as  Eucken  points  out :  "  But  we 
are  now  experiencing  what  mankind  has  so 
often  experienced,  viz.  that  at  the  very  point 
where  the  negation  reaches  its  climax  and  the 
danger  reaches  the  very  brink  of  a  precipice, 
the  conviction  dawns  with  axiomatic  certainty 
that  there  lives  and  stirs  within  us  something 
which  no  obstacle  or  enmity  can  ever  destroy, 
and  which  signifies  against  all  opposition  a 
kernel  of  our  nature  that  can  never  get  lost/'1 
The  religio-philosophical  problem  is,  then,  a 
return  to  the  Whole  of  Life.  It  is  here  that 
any  satisfactory  answer  can  be  found  if  found 

1  The  Truth  of  Religion,  p.  6l. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  62.% 

3 


34  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

at  all.  It  is  necessary  to  investigate  the  final 
grounds  as  well  as  the  most  complete  structure 
of  Life ;  it  is  further  necessary  to  discover 
whether  the  movement  of  Life  necessarily  leads 
to  religion.  As  Eucken  invariably  presents 
the  truth  of  religion,  the  meaning  and  signi- 
ficance of  religion  are  to  be  found  through 
self-consciousness.  This  meaning  of  conscious- 
ness is  twofold  in  nature.  On  the  one  hand, 
it  is  something  that  may  be  known,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  is  something  that  is  active 
through  its  own  inherent  energy.  Here  we  find 
a  difference  between  what  we  may  know  we  are 
and  what  we  are.  Our  knowledge  of  what  we 
are,  the  conditions  of  what  we  are,  the  history  of 
what  we  are — all  these  are  a  help  for  us  to  be 
what  we  are  capable  of  becoming.  But  all  these 
are  not  the  very  movement  of  the  becoming 
itself.  That  movement  is  the  resultant  of  the 
spiritual  potency  after  experiences  in  the  form 
of  cognition  have  marked  out  the  path  for 
conation.  This  conation  is  an  inheritance  ;  it 
is  present  in  the  form  of  dissatisfaction  with  the 
present  situation  ;  it  moves  in  the  direction  of 
a  goal  which  is  marked  out  by  intellect.  Now, 
however  much  this  conation  may  be  analysed, 
it  resists  being  decomposed  into  a  number  of 
elements  which  make  it  up,  for  any  such 
number,  except  in  the  very  manner  they  are 
united,  could  not  produce  the  situation.  In 
other  words,  whatever  the  history  of  this 
conation  may  be,  it  is  now  a  unity  or  whole. 


RELIGION  AND  EVOLUTION  35 

Conditioned  as  it  is  by  the  surrounding  world 
and  by  its  own  history,  in  so  far  as  it  is  this, 
it  is  determined-,  but  it  is  still  free  in  so  far  as 
it  is  capable  of  becoming  a  new  point  of 
departure  for  life  and  of  proceeding  on  its  way 
in  a  wrorld  of  spirit.  Unless  man's  nature 
contained  within  itself  some  unity  or  whole  of 
the  kind  already  referred  to,  it  would  mean 
no  more  than  a  receptacle  of  momentary  im- 
pressions which  would  vanish  as  soon  as  their 
physical  effects  had  passed  away.  But  man  is 
in  reality  more  than  all  this.  In  the  form  of 
memory  and  experience  he  is  able  to  hold 
together  in  a  core  of  his  being  the  meaning  of 
these  impressions  after  they  have  filtered  into 
his  consciousness.  That  is  what  we  find,  in 
however  obscure  a  way,  as  the  very  beginning 
of  every  human  life.  This  unity  or  whole,  as 
already  stated,  may  be  no  more  than  a  potency 
in  the  beginning  of  life,  but  it  gains  in  content 
and  depth  as  it  passes  from  impression  to  im- 
pression, and  from  experience  to  experience. 
And  all  further  impressions  and  experiences 
have  to  be  referred  to  this  nucleus  of  the 
nature  in  order  that  they  may  be  used  and 
may  prove  themselves  helpful.  It  is  in  this 
nucleus  of  the  nature  that  everything  obtains 
its  meaning  and  value. 

The  Whole  consequently  grows,  and  gradually 
man  becomes  conscious  of  his  personality  as 
over  against  the  environing  world  and  even 
his  own  body.  This  consciousness  of  inward- 


36  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

ness  is  of  slow  growth,  because  the  natural 
tendency  of  life  is  to  give  a  primary  place  to 
the  world  from  which  we  have  emerged — the 
world  of  physical  existence,  and  also  because 
much  of  that  physical  world  reigns  powerfully 
within  our  nature.  But  when  reflection  turns 
into  itself,  it  becomes  aware  that  the  inward- 
ness constitutes  the  kernel  of  a  reality  higher 
in  its  nature  than  anything  either  in  the 
physical  world  or  in  the  physical  life  which  the 
man  has  to  lead. 

Two  modes  of  reality  now  present  them- 
selves to  the  life,  neither  of  which  allows  itself 
to  be  conceived  of  as  an  illusion.  On  the  one 
hand,  we  find  the  physical  world  and  our  own 
physical  nature.  We  discover  that  we  cannot 
jump  out  of  these  without  destroying  all  we 
possess ;  we  have  to  come  to  some  kind  of 
understanding  with  the  physical  world  and  our 
own  physical  existence.  Yet,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  consciousness  of  a  kernel  of  our 
being,  non-sensuous  and  spiritual  in  its  nature, 
has  for  ever  broken  our  satisfaction  with  the 
physical  world  and  our  own  physical  existence. 
There  are  only  two  alternatives  on  which  we 
can  act.  Either  we  are  to  conceive  of  our 
spiritual  personality  as  something  secondary 
and  subsidiary  to  the  natural  world,  or  we  are 
to  insist  on  its  independence,  and  acknowledge 
it  as  the  beginning  of  a  new  mode  of  existence. 
If  the  former  alternative  is  chosen,  the  person- 
ality can  never  pass  to  a  state  of  self-subsistence, 


RELIGION  AND  EVOLUTION  37 

but  will  conceive  of  reality  as  something  which 
is  mainly  physical.  The  consequence  is  that 
the  personality  will  suffer  seriously  in  its 
evolution,  for  such  an  evolution  is  brought 
about  through  the  recognition  and  willing 
acknowledgment  of  the  breaking  forth  of 
a  new  kind  of  reality  within  the  spiritual 
nucleus  of  life.  If  the  latter  alternative  is 
chosen,  this  nucleus  of  life  is  now  seen  as 
something  quite  other  than  a  quality  entirely 
dependent  upon  the  physical  or  than  a  mere 
flowering  of  the  physical ;  it  is  seen  as  a 
reality  higher  in  its  nature  than  the  physical 
or  even  than  the  ordinary  life  of  the  individual. 
Such  a  situation  is  forced  on  man  when 
once  he  reflects  upon  the  inward  meaning  of 
the  content  of  his  consciousness.  It  is  true 
that  such  questions  may  be  thrust  into  the 
background,  and  consequently  inhibited  from 
presenting  us  with  their  full  value  and  signifi- 
cance. And  it  is  this  which  happens  only 
too  often  in  daily  life.  The  constant  need  of 
attention  to  external  things,  the  absorption  of 
the  mind  in  conventionality  and  custom  as 
these  present  themselves  in  the  form  of  a 
ready-made  inheritance — all  these  occupy  so 
much  of  the  attention  as  to  prevent  man  from 
knowing  and  experiencing  what  his  own  life 
is  or  what  it  is  capable  of  becoming.  Man 
has  penetrated  into  the  secrets  of  Nature  as 
well  as  into  the  past  of  human  society  through 
close  and  constant  attention  to  external  things. 


38  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

He  has  been  able  to  gather  fragments  together, 
piece  them  into  each  other,  and  through  this 
frame  laws  concerning  them.  It  is  thus  that 
the  external  world  and  society  have  come  to 
mean  more  to  a  human  being  than  to  an 
animal.  The  animal  is  probably  almost 
entirely  the  creature  of  its  instincts  and  of 
the  percepts  which  present  themselves  to  it 
from  moment  to  moment,  and  which  largely 
disappear.  But  man  rises  above  this  situation. 
The  external  world  and  everything  that  has 
ever  happened  on  its  face  are  not  merely 
objects  external  to  himself,  which  contain  all 
their  qualities  in  themselves.  Somebody  has 
to  experience  all  this,  and  that  somebody  that 
experiences  all  this  is  mental  in  his  nature, 
however  much  this  nature  has  been  conditioned 
by  physical  things  in  the  past  or  present. 

Eucken  emphasises  this  fundamental  fact  in 
all  his  books.  Wherever  a  being  is  capable  of 
experiencing  impressions  and  of  giving  mean- 
ings to  these,  we  are  bound  to  conclude  that 
the  power  which  does  this  is  something  quite 
other  than  physical  in  its  nature.  It  may  be 
that  such  a  power  has  never  been  known 
except  in  connection  with  what  is  physical ; 
it  may  be  that  various  chemical  changes  give 
the  truer  and  clearer  explanation  of  its  origin, 
as  far  as  its  origin  can  be  known  at  all ;  it 
may  be  that  there  was  nothing  of  the  mental 
visible  in  the  early  stages  of  its  development ; 
but  all  this  is  very  different  from  stating  that 


RELIGION   AND   EVOLUTION  39 

no  potentiality  for  mental  evolution  was  there. 
And  it  is  this  potentiality  which  is  the  issue  at 
stake.  We  have  no  warrant  for  stating  that 
it  does  not  exist  because  it  does  not  lend 
itself  to  be  verified  by  the  senses.  Where 
does  mind  manifest  itself  to  the  senses  ?  It  is 
something  which  does  not  exist  in  space  as  a 
horse  or  a  tree.  It  may  be  that  consciousness 
has  emanated  from  simple  chemical  beginnings 
and  combinations,  but  it  is  not  a  simple  or  a 
chemical  thing  now.  We  divide  worlds  into 
inorganic  and  organic.  The  main  principle  of 
division  is  necessitated  on  account  of  the  fact 
that  some  characteristics  are  present  in  the 
former  which  are  absent  in  the  latter.  It  is 
precisely  the  same  between  Body  and  Mind, 
with  one  difference.  Body  and  Mind  are 
indissolubly  connected,  but  one  cannot  be 
reduced  into  the  other.  However  much  the 
connection  on  one  side  may  influence  the 
other  side,  the  difference  between  a  meaning 
and  a  thing  remains.  And  it  is  this  funda- 
mental difference  which  makes  it  absolutely 
necessary  to  acknowledge  a  world  of  conscious- 
ness in  contradistinction  to  a  world  of  matter 
and  its  behaviour,  whether  such  matter  is  to 
be  found  in  the  human  body  with  its  mechani- 
cal and  chemical  changes  and  transformations 
or  in  the  physical  universe  outside  our  body. 

It  is  only  when  the  mind  becomes  aware 
of  its  own  existence — an  existence  not  to  be 
established  as  being  in  Space  (or  entirely  in 


40  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

Time)  but  as  a  reality  subsisting  in  itself  and 
in  will-relations — that  the  efforts  and  fruitions 
of  the  spirit  of  man  become  intelligible  at  all. 
But  such  an  awareness  has  become  a  permanent 
possession  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  within 
the  life  of  man.  Whenever  he  becomes  con- 
scious of  the  fact  that  in  his  own  soul  a  new 
phenomenon  has  made  its  appearance,  he 
begins,  after  the  willing  acknowledgment  of 
the  reality  of  such  a  phenomenon,  to  exercise 
its  potency  over  against  the  external  world 
and  over  against  much  that  is  present  in  his 
own  psychical  life.  A  Higher  and  a  Lower 
present  themselves  to  him.  The  two  alterna- 
tives force  themselves,  and  there  is  no  third : 
either  this  deeper  kernel  of  his  life  must  mean 
the  possibility  and,  in  a  measure,  the  presence 
of  a  new  kind  of  reality ;  or,  on  the  other  hand, 
it  means  no  more  than  a  mere  epiphenomenon 
and  blossoming  of  the  merely  natural  life.  If 
the  latter  view  is  adopted,  the  spiritual 
nucleus  of  man's  nature  obtains  but  slight 
attention  except  on  the  side  of  its  connection 
with  the  surrounding  organic  world,  and  con- 
sequently what  this  nucleus  is  in  itself  as  an 
experience  recedes  into  the  background,  and 
descriptions  and  explanations  in  scientific  or 
philosophical  form  step  into  the  foreground. 
But  a  contradiction  is  imbedded  in  this  very 
account.  Some  kind  of  experience  of  life, 
apart  from,  and  higher  in  its  nature  than,  the 
connection  of  the  spiritual  nucleus  with  its 


RELIGION   AND  EVOLUTION  41 

physical  history,  persists  in  the  life.  The  man 
of  science  is  generally  a  good  and  worthy  man. 
He  believes  in  the  moral  life,  and  he  does  not 
throw  the  values  of  the  centuries  overboard. 
Such  belief  and  valuation  are  not  made  up 
of  the  content  of  the  explanation  of  life  from 
its  physical  side,  but  are  an  unconscious 
acknowledgment  of  the  presence  of  truths 
and  values  as  experiences  and  as  now  subsisting 
in  themselves,  however  much  they  are  caused 
by  physical  things. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  an  acknowledgment 
of  the  reality  of  this  spiritual  life  is  made,  new 
questions  immediately  arise.  And  the  most 
fundamental  of  these  questions  have  always 
been  those  farther  removed  from  any  sensuous 
or  physical  domain.  They  are  questions  con- 
cerning the  value  and  meaning  of  life.  It  is 
a  deep  conviction  of  the  reality  of  the  deeper 
kernel  of  our  being  that  alone  constitutes  the 
entrance  to  a  new  kind  of  world.  But  to 
acknowledge  the  presence  of  such  a  new  world 
does  not  signify  the  possession  of  it  simultane- 
ously with  the  acknowledgment.  The  new 
world  is  discovered,  but  it  is  not  yet  possessed. 
There  are  terrible  obstacles  in  the  way  ;  there 
are  enemies  without  and  within  to  be  conquered. 
It  is  of  little  use  entering  into  this  struggle 
without  an  acknowledgment — born  of  an  in- 
ward necessity — of  the  spiritual  nucleus  of  our 
nature.  Unless  man  has  accustomed  himself 
to  hold  fast  to  this  "  subtle  thing  termed  spirit " 


42  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

he  will  soon  be  swamped  in  the  region  of 
the  natural  life  once  more;  and  when  this 
happens  the  spiritual  nucleus  loses  the  con- 
sciousness of  its  own  real  subsistence  as  some- 
thing higher  in  its  nature  than  physical  things 
or  than  the  body  and  the  ordinary  life  of  the 
day.  If  the  enterprise  is  to  issue  in  anything 
that  is  great  and  good — into  a  spiritual  world 
with  an  ever-growing  content  here  and  now — 
an  insistence  upon  the  reality  of  this  deeper  life 
coupled  with  the  highest  end  which  presents 
itself  to  the  life  must  be  made.  Something  is 
now  seen  in  the  distance  as  the  meaning  and 
value  of  life — something  which  our  deeper 
nature  longs  for,  and  which  has  created  a  cleft 
within  the  soul  between  the  ordinary  things  of 
sense  and  time  and  that  which  "  never  was  on 
sea  or  land."  It  is  something  of  this  nature 
which  Eucken  discovers  as  the  germ  of  all  the 
spiritual  ideas  of  religion  as  well  as  of  the 
essence  of  religion  itself.  The  Godhead, 
Eternity,  Immortality,  are  concepts  which 
arise  within  the  soul  through  a  consciousness 
of  the  inadequacy  of  all  natural  things  and  of 
even  mental  descriptions  and  explanations  to 
answer  and  to  satisfy  the  potency  and  longing 
of  human  nature. 

Most  of  the  great  thinkers  of  the  ages  have 
insisted  on  the  necessity  of  the  recognition  and 
acknowledgment  of  this  deeper  life  which  is 
in  dire  need  of  a  content.  If  man  is  not  to 
be  swamped  by  the  external  and  become  the 


RELIGION  AND  EVOLUTION  43 

mere  sport  of  the  "  wind  and  wave "  of  the 
environment,  he  has  to  enter  somehow  into 
the  very  centre  of  his  being  and  become  con- 
vinced that  the  dictates  which  proceed  from 
that  centre  are  the  most  fundamental  things 
in  life.  This  has  always  formed  the  kernel 
of  religion,  however  often  men,  failing  to 
reach  that  kernel,  have  lived  on  the  husks. 
But  even  this  very  sham  notifies  some  small 
attempt  in  the  right  direction.  In  modern 
times — in  the  various  forms  of  Idealism  and 
Pragmatism — such  a  need  of  getting  at  the 
core  of  being  and  of  being  convinced  that  the 
effort  is  worth  while,  has  been  emphasised  again 
and  again.  "  Launch  yourselves  with  as  strong 
and  decided  an  initiative  as  possible.  Accumu- 
late all  the  possible  circumstances  which  shall 
re-enforce  the  right  motives ;  put  yourself 
assiduously  in  conditions  that  encourage  the 
new  way ;  make  engagements  incompatible 
with  the  old  ;  take  a  public  pledge,  if  the  case 
allows  ;  in  short,  envelop  your  resolution  with 
every  aid  you  know.  This  will  give  your  new 
beginning  such  a  momentum  that  the  tempta- 
tion to  break  down  will  not  occur  as  soon  as 
it  otherwise  might ;  and  every  day  during 
which  a  breakdown  is  postponed  adds  to  the 
chances  of  its  not  occurring  at  all."1 

"  The  Stoic  and  Butler  also  said,  « Follow 
God.'  In  each  case  you  must  realise  that, 
whatever  you  do,  you  take  your  life  in  your 

1  W.  James's  Text-Book  of  Psychology,  p.  145. 


44  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

hands ;  you  enter  on  a  grand  enterprise,  a 
search  for  the  Holy  Grail,  which  will  bring  you 
to  strange  lands  and  perilous  seas.  For  you 
cannot  say,  interpreting,  *  Thus  far  and  no 
further,  merely  according  to  the  bond  and  the 
duty.'  In  following  God,  you  follow  by  what 
has  been,  what  is  ruled  and  accomplished,  but 
you  follow  after  what  is  not  yet.  6  It  may  be 
that  the  gulfs  will  wash  us  down ' ;  it  may  be 
that  the  gods  of  the  past  will  rain  upon  us 
brimstone  and  horrible  tempest.  But  he  that 
is  with  us  is  more  than  all  that  are  against  us. 
Whoever  keeps  his  ear  ever  open  to  duty, 
always  forward,  never  attained,  is  not  far  from 
the  kingdom.  The  gods  may  be  against  him, 
the  demi-gods  may  depart ;  but  he,  as  said 
Plotinus,  '  if  alone,  is  with  the  Alone.' " l 

It  is  impossible  for  us,  as  Eucken  constantly 
insists,  to  stop  short  of  this.  Who  can  pre- 
scribe limits  to  the  capability  of  consciousness 
when  it  is  focussed,  in  the  form  of  a  conviction, 
on  the  deepest  problems  which  press  them- 
selves upon  it?  There  is  only  one  objection 
that  the  empiricist  can  bring  forward,  and  that 
is  that  all  such  ideals  can  never  be  proved  to 
exist  as  things  exist  in  space.  But,  as  already 
hinted,  is  existence  in  space  the  only  form  of 
existence  ?  Is  it  not  necessary  for  something 
which  is  not  in  space  to  make  us  aware  of  what 
is  in  space ?  "If  not  as  men  of  science,  yet  as 

1  William  Wallace's  Lectures  and  Essays  on  Natural 
Theology  and  Ethics,  p.  210. 


RELIGION  AND   EVOLUTION  45 

men,  as  human  beings,  we  have  to  put  things 
together,  to  form  some  total  estimate  of  the 
drift  of  development,  of  the  unity  of  nature." 1 

If  the  deepest  core  of  consciousness  is 
acknowledged  and  the  vague  ideals  and  ends 
which  present  themselves  are  attended  to, 
something  new  happens  in  the  life.  Life  now 
starts  on  the  great  enterprise  referred  to  by 
William  Wallace.  It  finds  its  highest  reality 
in  an  experience  born  within  itself  and  differ- 
entiated for  ever  from  the  natural  and  even  the 
intellectual  life.  To  such  a  conclusion  man  is 
forced ;  and  if  the  situation  is  evaded,  some- 
thing within  his  soul  never  comes  to  birth.  It 
is  seen  at  once  that  in  order  to  know  the 
content  of  this  new  world,  it  is  necessary  for 
a  long  series  of  struggles  to  take  place.  And 
to  this  point  we  now  turn. 

The  deeper  consciousness  has  relegated  the 
natural  world  to  a  secondary  place,  and  has 
further  shown  man  that  the  main  object  of  life 
includes  not  only  finding  a  footing  against  the 
dangers  of  natural  things,  but  to  plant  oneself 
within  a  spiritual  world  of  meanings  and  values. 
This  cannot  be  done  without  an  independent 
and  decisive  act  of  the  soul.  A  meaning  of  life 
has  now  revealed  itself  beyond  that  of  the 
"small  self."  This  meaning  can  be  reached 
only  through  this  decisive  act  of  the  soul. 
This  meaning  is  over-individual  in  its  nature  ; 

1  Edward  Caird's  Introduction  to  William  Wallace's 
Gifford  Lectures,  pp.  xxx,  xxxi. 


46  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

it  is  a  truth,  goodness,  or  beauty,  which  pre- 
sents itself  as  an  idea  and  ideal  formed  by  the 
experiences  of  many  individuals,  at  different 
epochs  and  in  different  circumstances.  Thus 
the  individual,  in  order  to  realise  his  own  life, 
must  work  with  material  presented  in  the 
community.  Such  material  has  been  found 
helpful  in  the  life  of  the  community.  It 
consists  of  collective  results  made  up  of  large 
numbers  of  single  factors.  These  have  been 
tied  together  in  the  form  of  various  syntheses. 
Such  various  syntheses  comprise  a  larger 
meaning  than  what  ordinarily  happens  from 
moment  to  moment  in  connection  with  the 
relation  of  the  individual  to  the  external  world 
or,  indeed,  within  the  individual's  own  ordinary 
life.  Many  of  the  isolated,  fragmentary  experi- 
ences of  the  individual  have  to  give  way  when 
tested  in  the  light  of  any  larger  synthesis.  If 
this  were  not  so,  no  commercial,  social,  civilised 
life  would  be  possible  at  all.  The  more  real 
life  is  now  perceived  to  be  that  of  the  larger 
meaning  and  value.  The  individual,  solitary 
experiences  may  be  legitimate,  for  they  often 
express  wants  and  needs  of  the  individual 
which  have  a  certain  right  to  obtain  satis- 
faction. But  the  extent  and  limits  of  these 
rights  have  to  be  measured  by  some  norm  or 
standard  other  than  themselves,  or  else  each 
individual  will  proceed  on  his  own  course 
regardless  of  the  rights  of  others.  It  is  the 
presence  of  various  syntheses  which  express  the 


RELIGION  AND  EVOLUTION  47 

collective  life  of  the  whole — of  each  and  every 
individual — that  makes  civilisation  possible. 
Thus,  in  the  very  process  of  civilisation  itself, 
as  Eucken  points  out,  there  is  present  a  factor 
which  is  termed  Spiritual,  and  which  is  not 
to  be  mistaken  for  a  mere  flow  of  cause  and 
effect,  or  for  one  mere  event  following  another. 
Eucken  emphasises  this  all-important  element 
of  the  over -individual  qualities  present  in 
human  history.  There  is  here  much  which 
resembles  Hegel's  Absolute.  But  there  is  a 
great  difference  between  the  two  in  the  sense 
that  Eucken  shows  the  constant  need  of 
spiritual  activism  on  the  part  of  individuals 
in  order  to  realise  and  keep  alive  the  norms 
and  standards  which  have  carried  our  world  so 
far ;  and  there  is  also  the  need  of  contributing 
something  to  the  values  of  these  through  the 
creation  of  new  qualities  within  the  souls  of 
the  individuals  themselves. 

But  the  problems  of  civilisation  and  morality 
are  not  the  only,  or  the  highest,  problems  which 
present  themselves.  But  even  such  problems 
have  partially  been  the  means  of  drawing  man 
outside  himself,  and  of  enabling  him  to  see  that 
his  self  can  only  be  realised  in  connection  with 
the  common  good  and  demands  of  the  com- 
munity. He  now  feels  the  necessity  of  living 
up  to  that  standard.  This  is  an  important  step 
in  the  direction  of  the  moral  and  religious  life. 
It  reveals  the  presence  of  a  spiritual  nucleus  of 
our  being  obtaining  a  content  beyond  the  needs 


48  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

of  the  moment ;  it  shows  life  as  realising  itself  in 
wide  connections  ;  and  the  individual  becomes 
the  possessor  of  a  certain  degree  of  spiritual 
inwardness  in  the  process.  Even  as  far  as  this 
level  we  find  the  deeper  life — the  spiritual  life- 
insisting  on  the  validity  of  its  mental  and  moral 
conclusions  over  against  the  objects  of  sense. 
Without  this  insistence  no  knowledge  would 
progress  and  be  valid.  The  macrocosm  is 
mirrored  and  coloured  in  a  mental  and  moral 
microcosm.  A  replica  of  the  external  world  has 
a  reality  in  consciousness,  and  this  reality  is  not 
a  mere  photograph  of  the  external,  but  it  is 
the  external  as  it  appears  to  the  meaning  it  has 
obtained  in  consciousness.  The  meaning  of 
the  world  is  thus  something  beyond  the  world 
itself;  it  is  more  than  appears  at  any  one 
moment.  If  the  world  were  less  than  this,  if  the 
percept  could  not  somehow  become  a  concept, 
all  progress  would  come  to  a  standstill,  and  we 
should  be  no  more  than  creatures  of  sensations 
and  percepts  which  vanished  as  soon  as  they 
appeared.  But  these  do  not  vanish ;  they 
persist  in  various  ways,  as  after-images,  con- 
cepts, memory.  Thus,  in  the  very  act  of 
knowing  anything  at  all,  something  greater 
than  the  physical  object  known  is  present. 
And  Eucken  would  insist,  therefore,  that  the 
mental  and  spiritual  are  present  from  the  very 
beginning  and  bring  to  a  mental  focus  the 
impressions  of  the  senses.  In  the  interpreta- 
tion of  Eucken's  philosophy  several  writers 


RELIGION  AND  EVOLUTION  49 

have  missed  the  author's  meaning  here.  They 
have,  through  the  ambiguity  of  the  term 
"  spiritual "  in  English,  conceived  of  "  spiritual 
life "  as  something  entirely  different  from  the 
mental  life.  1 1  is  different,  but  only  in  the  same 
way  as  the  bud  is  different  from  the  blossom  ;  it 
means  at  the  religious  level  a  greater  unfolding 
of  a  life  which  has  been  present  at  every  stage 
in  the  history  of  civilisation  and  culture. 

But,  as  already  noticed,  the  mental  life  is 
passed  when  we  enter  the  life  of  a  community. 
The  norms  and  standards,  already  referred  to, 
make  their  appearance  and  persist  in  demand- 
ing obedience  to  themselves  even  at  the  ex- 
pense of  much  within  consciousness  that  points 
in  another  direction. 

But  even  such  a  stage  as  this  does  not  give 
satisfaction  to  man.  Much  effort  and  sacrifice 
are  needed  to  live  up  to  the  life  of  the  com- 
munity. And  such  effort  and  sacrifice  are 
often  the  best  means  of  calling  into  activity  a 
still  deeper,  reserved  energy  of  the  soul.  The 
soul  now  recognises  a  value  beyond  the  values 
of  culture  and  civilisation.  The  Good,  the 
True,  and  the  Beautiful  appear  as  the  sole 
realities  by  the  side  of  which  everything  that 
preceded,  if  taken  as  complete  in  itself,  appears 
as  a  great  shadow  or  illusion.  Here  we  are 
reminded  of  Eucken's  affinity  with  Plato's 
Doctrine  of  Ideas,  as  well  as  of  his  attachment 
to  the  revival  of  Platonism  by  Plotinus.  Values 
for  life,  subsisting  in  themselves,  become  objects 

4 


50  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

of  meditation,  of  "  browsing,"  and  of  the  deepest 
activity  of  the  soul.  Life  is  now  viewed  as 
consisting  in  a  great  and  constant  quest  after 
these  religious  ideals.  It  sees  its  meaning 
beyond  and  above  the  range  of  mentality  or 
even  morality,  though  it  is  well  that  it  should 
pass  as  often  as  possible  through  the  gate 
of  the  former,  and  is  bound  to  pass  always 
through  the  gate  of  the  latter.  A  break  takes 
place  with  the  "  natural  self" ;  the  mental  life 
of  concepts,  though  necessary,  is  now  seen  as 
insufficient ;  and  life  is  now  viewed  as  having 
a  "pearl  of  great  price"  before  its  gaze. 
Here  the  stirb  und  werde  of  Paul  and  Goethe 
becomes  necessary.  The  real  education  of  man 
now  begins.  His  life  becomes  guided  and 
governed  by  norms  whose  limits  cannot  be 
discovered,  and  which  have  never  been  realised 
in  their  wholeness  on  the  face  of  our  earth. 
What  can  these  mean?  They  cannot  be 
delusions  or  illusions,  for  they  answer  too 
deep  a  need  of  the  soul  to  be  reduced  to  that 
level.  If  we  blot  them  out  of  our  existence, 
we  sink  back  to  a  mere  natural  or  mechanical 
stage.  When  the  soul  concentrates  its  deepest 
attention  on  these  norms  or  ideals  they  fascinate 
it,  they  draw  hidden  energies  into  activity, 
they  give  inklings  of  immortality.  Is  it  not 
far  more  conceivable  that  such  a  vision  of 
meaning,  of  beauty,  and  of  enchantment  is 
a  new  kind  of  reality — cosmic  in  its  nature 
and  eternal  in  its  duration  ?  Man  has  to 


RELIGION  AND   EVOLUTION  51 

come  to  a  decision  concerning  this.  There  is 
no  half-way  house  here  possible  without  the 
deepest  potencies  of  human  nature  suffering 
and  failing  to  transform  themselves  from  bud 
to  blossom  and  fruit. 

At  a  later  stage  in  our  inquiry  this  question 
will  recur  in  connection  with  the  conception  of 
the  Godhead.  But  here  it  may  be  observed 
that  to  decide  on  the  affirmative  side  that 
somehow  such  norms  and  ideals  which  mean 
so  much  are  cosmic  realities,  is  simply  to  state 
no  more  than  that  an  evolutionary  process  is 
taking  place  towards  a  new  kind  of  world  as 
well  as  a  new  kind  of  existence.  No  outsider 
is  competent  to  pronounce  judgment  on  the 
validity  of  the  proofs  possessed  within  this 
spiritual  realm.  The  qualifications  here  are 
beyond  the  range  of  knowledge,  although 
knowledge  does  not  cease  to  act  within  such 
a  realm.  The  experiences  here  cannot  be 
measured  or  weighed ;  and  that  a  certain  ob- 
scurity is  present  in  them  is  only  what  may  be 
expected,  considering  that  the  spiritual  nature 
is  farther  removed  from  the  region  of  nature 
with  its  physical  existence  than  when  it  deals 
with  problems  on  the  intellectual  level.  But 
such  spiritual  proofs  are  found  in  the  fact  that 
these  realities  present  themselves  only  at  the 
height  of  spiritual  development,  and  in  the  fact 
that  they  produce  an  inversion  of  the  nature 
of  man,  and  change  the  centre  of  gravity  of 
his  life  to  a  more  inward  recess  of  his  being 


52  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

than  is  open  on  the  natural  or  intellectual 
side. 

Thus,  once  more,  the  soul  is  driven  forward 
by  its  own  necessities  to  a  religious  reality. 
What  can  it  do  but  grant  cosmic  origin  and 
validity  to  such  ideals  ?  If  these  ideals  are  not 
this,  then,  as  Eucken  points  out,  they  are  the 
most  tragic  illusions  conceivable. 

When  they  are  acknowledged  as  cosmic 
realities,  man  is  in  the  midst  of  a  religion  of 
a  universal  kind.  But  the  acknowledgment  of 
these  as  cosmic  realities  is  something  more  than 
a  concept.  The  men  who  have  come  to  this 
conclusion  required  something  more  than  logical 
arguments  in  order  to  establish  this  truth.  The 
conclusions  were  based  upon  a  specific  (char- 
acteristic] religious  experience  of  their  own. 
And  such  a  religious  experience  was  larger  and 
more  real  than  anything  that  could  be  estab- 
lished in  the  form  of  concepts  concerning  it. 
As  we  shall  notice  in  a  later  chapter,  it  is 
somewhat  on  this  account  that  Eucken  differ- 
entiates between  universal  and  specific  (char- 
acteristic] religion. 

It  becomes  evident  that  such  contents  of  the 
new  spiritual  world  cannot  be  utilised  by  man 
without  effort.  These  realities  have  to  pass 
from  the  region  of  ideas  to  the  region  of  actual 
experiences.  In  other  words,  they  must  be- 
come man's  own  religion.  Man  has  now 
become  convinced  of  the  reality  of  a  universal 
spiritual  life  as  constituting,  in  a  measure,  the 


RELIGION  AND   EVOLUTION  53 

foundation  of  the  evolution  of  the  soul,  and  as 
the  goal  towards  which  he  must  for  ever  move. 
Eucken  is  unwilling  to  speculate  as  to  the  origin 
or  the  goal  of  this.  The  centre  of  gravity  of 
life  must  be  laid  in  what  may  be  known  and 
experienced  between  these  two  poles.  There  is 
a  certainty  which  is  intermediate  between  man 
and  the  Godhead.  It  is  when  this  certainty  is 
realised  as  an  actual  portion  of  the  soul  that 
man  becomes  competent  to  carry  farther- 
backward  and  forward — the  implications  of 
this  certainty.  And  implications  of  a  new 
kind  of  Weltanschauung  result  from  the  spirit- 
ual experiences  of  the  Lebensanschauung  of  the 
spiritual  life.  On  this  matter  we  shall  touch 
at  a  later  stage  in  the  inquiry. 

At  present  let  us  confine  our  attention  to  the 
intermediate  reality  which  presents  itself  in  a 
form  that  is  over-individual.  It  is  only  when 
we  pass  out  of  the  psychology  of  the  subject 
— a  matter  that  deals  with  the  history  of  mental 
processes — that  we  are  able  to  view  the  mean- 
ing of  the  realities  which  are  over-individual. 
As  already  pointed  out,  these  realities  are  not 
the  creations  of  man's  fancy  or  imagination 
after  reason  has  been  switched  off.  They  are 
non-sensuous  realities  which  have  moulded  and 
shaped  the  lives  of  individuals  and  nations  in 
varied  degrees.  These  ideals  are  not  to  remain 
merely  objects  of  knowledge ;  they  are  to  be- 
come portions  of  the  inmost  experiences  of  the 
soul.  This  they  cannot  become  without  the 


54  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

calling  out  of  the  deepest  energy  of  the  individ- 
ual. His  fragmentary  spiritual  life — small  as 
it  is — still  calls  for  more  of  its  own  nature,  and 
this  more  has  been  seen  in  the  distance  as  some- 
thing of  infinite  value.1  A  mountain,  as  it 
were,  has  to  be  climbed ;  dark  ravines  have  to 
be  gone  through ;  and  rivers  have  to  be  swum 
across.  The  whole  vision  means  no  less  than 
an  entrance  into  a  new  kind  of  world,  the  scal- 
ing to  a  new  kind  of  existence,  and  a  conquest 
which  will  make  the  pilgrim  a  participator  in 
that  which  is  Divine.  A  struggle  has  to  take 
place,  because  so  much  that  belongs  to  the  life, 
on  the  level  where  it  now  stands,  belongs  to  a 
world  below  it.  Impulses  and  passions,  the  nar- 
row outlook,  the  timidity  and  hollowness  of  the 
"small  self" — all  these,  which  have  previously 
remained  at  the  centre  of  life,  have  to  be  thrust 
to  the  periphery  of  existence.  So  that  an  en- 
trance into  the  highest  spiritual  world  is  not 
merely  something  to  know,  but  far  rather  some- 
thing to  do  and  to  be.  This  is  the  meaning  of 
Eucken's  activism.  It  is  not  the  busying  of 
ourselves  over  trifles ;  there  is  no  need  of  en- 
couragement in  that  direction.  It  is  rather 
the  inward  glance  on  the  nature  of  the  over- 
individual  ideals ;  it  is  a  deep  and  constant 
concentration  upon  their  value  and  significance, 
in  order  that  the  soul  may  plant  itself  on  the 
shores  of  the  over-world.  It  is  in  granting  a 

1  On    this    conception    of    the    spiritual   as    More,   cf. 
Bosanquet's  Psychology  of  the  Moral  Self. 


RELIGION   AND  EVOLUTION  55 

higher  mode  of  existence  to  these  ideals,  and 
in  preserving  them  as  the  possession  of  the  soul, 
that  man  finds  the  ever  greater  meaning  of 
that  spiritual  life  which  was  present  within  him 
from  the  very  beginning  of  his  enterprise.  The 
process  of  forcing  an  entrance  into  this  over- 
world  has  to  be  repeated  time  after  time. 
There  are  no  enemies  in  front,  but  the  man  is 
surrounded  by  them  from  around  and  behind 
him.  The  indifference,  in  a  large  measure  of 
the  natural  process,  the  rigid  instincts  of  mere 
self-preservation,  the  temptation  to  smugness 
and  ease,  the  cold  conclusions  of  the  under- 
standing when  satisfied  with  explanations  from 
the  physical  world,  the  hardness  of  the  heart — 
these  and  many  other  enemies  fight  for  supre- 
macy, and  the  soul  is  often  torn  in  the  struggle. 
The  struggle  continues  for  a  great  length  of 
time  ;  but  the  history  of  the  world  testifies  to 
an  innumerable  host  of  individuals  who  scaled 
and  fell,  who  started  again  and  again,  until  at 
last  their  conceptions  of  the  Highest  Good 
became  a  permanent  experience  and  possession 
of  their  deepest  being. 

And  when  the  spiritual  life  creates  an  entrance 
into  this  over-world  something  happens  which 
makes  a  fundamental  difference  in  the  life. 
The  life  may  again  and  again  sink  back  to  its 
old  level,  but  what  has  happened  will  never 
allow  it  to  remain  satisfied  on  that  level. 
"  We  fall  to  rise,  are  baffled  to  fight  better, 
sleep  to  wake"  (Browning).  Life  now  be- 


56  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

comes  alternately  a  quest  and  a  fruition.1  The 
individual  has  to  gather  his  whole  energies 
together  because  something  great  is  at  stake. 
This  is  nothing  less  than  the  possession  of  a 
new  kind  of  reality.  The  struggle  has  yielded 
a  conquest  for  the  time  being.  He  tastes  and 
"eats  his  pot  of  honey  on  the  grave"  of 
enemies  within  and  without.  This  fruition 
means  no  less  than  a  taste  of  "  eternal  life  in 
the  midst  of  time  "  (Harnack),  and  the  relegat- 
ing of  the  whole  world  of  phenomena  to  a 
subsidiary  place. 

This  is  the  kernel  of  Eucken's  Truth  of 
Religion.  The  book  deals  with  the  most 
subtle  psychological  problems  of  the  soul,  and 
reaches  the  conclusion  of  an  entrance  by  man 
into  a  divine  world.  All  this  is  far  removed 
from  the  ordinary  traditional  conception  either 
of  God  or  of  religion.  Perhaps  the  majority 
of  mankind  is  not  as  yet  ready  for  such  a  pre- 
sentation of  religion.  But  I  think  it  may  be 
safely  said  that  it  is  through  some  such  mode 
of  conceiving  religion  as  this  that  the  "  great 
and  good  ones  "  of  the  world  found  an  entrance 
into  a  divine  world  and  grasped  the  conception 
of  the  evolution  of  the  soul  as  a  process  which 
begins  where  organic  evolution  ends. 

1  Cf.  Wicksteed's  The  Religion  of  Time  and  the  Religion 
of  Eternity,  in  Carpenter  and  Wicksteed's  Studies  in  Theology. 


CHAPTER  III 

RELIGION    AND    NATURAL   SCIENCE 

IN  the  previous  chapter  we  have  noticed  how 
man  is  able  to  reach  an  over-world  which  will 
grant  him  a  new  kind  of  reality  over  against 
the  whole  remaining  domain  of  existence. 
But  the  evidence  hitherto  brought  forth  has 
been  that  of  the  nature  of  man  himself.  We 
have  in  this  chapter  to  inquire  whether  there 
is  a  warrant  for  such  a  conclusion  within  the 
realm  of  natural  science.  Does  science  give 
any  hint  of  the  presence  of  spiritual  life  any- 
where in  the  universe  ?  Eucken  answers 
distinctly  in  the  affirmative.1 

The  conclusions  of  natural  science  have, 
in  modern  times,  come  into  direct  conflict 
with  religion.  Traditional  religion  has  grown 
up  on  a  view  of  the  universe  which  has  been 

1  Eucken's  best  account  of  this  subject  is  found  in  Parts 
I.,  II.,  and  V.  of  his  Truth  of  Religion  and  in  Beitrdge  zur 
Weiterentwickelung  der  Religion,  pp.  24-0-281.  This  latter 
is  a  volume  of  ten  essays  by  well-known  German  religious 
teachers. 

57 


58  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

utterly  discarded  by  modern  knowledge. 
Religious  leaders  have  often  had  to  be  dragged 
to  see  the  truth  of  this  statement,  and,  as 
Eucken  points  out,  many  are  still  far  from 
realising  the  seriousness  of  the  cleft  between 
knowledge  and  religion.  The  theology  of  the 
Middle  Ages  has  not  yet  disappeared,  although 
fortunately  there  are  some  signs  of  a  great 
reconstruction  going  on  in  our  midst.  Fortun- 
ately, this  naive  view  of  the  universe  is  a 
theology  and  not  a  religion ;  but  doubtless 
even  the  religion  of  the  soul  suffers  when  its 
knowing  aspect  is  perpetually  contradicted  by 
scientific  knowledge.  There  is  such  a  close 
connection  between  "  head  "  and  "  heart  "- 
even  closer  than  between  body  and  mind- 
that  the  use  of  discarded  theories  of  the  universe 
and  of  life  cannot  but  prove  injurious  to  the 
deepest  source  of  life. 

The  mental  conceptions  of  religion  have, 
in  the  course  of  the  ages,  undergone  many 
transformations,  and  there  is  no  reason  why 
another  transformation  should  gradually  not 
come  about  in  the  present.  In  Hebrew  and 
Greek  times  we  discover  a  polytheism,  after  a 
long  course  of  development,  emerging  into  heno- 
theism,  and  finally,  here  and  there,  into  mono- 
theism. The  old  conceptions  of  gods  and  spirits 
present  in  trees  and  wells,  mountains  and  air,  are 
overcome.  They  are  not  so  much  destroyed  as 
supplanted  by  higher  conceptions.  In  pre- 
Socratic  philosophy  we  find  the  gods  and 


RELIGION  AND  NATURAL  SCIENCE     59 

spirits  relegated  to  a  secondary  place,  and 
Nature  is  conceived  as  a  system  of  inner 
energies  and  strivings.  In  these  conceptions 
Man  is  drawn  closer  to  Nature,  and  the  con- 
nection of  his  life  is  shown  to  be  closely  inter- 
woven with  the  life  of  Nature.  But  the 
empirical  aspect  of  this  teaching  was  pushed 
into  the  background  through  the  teachings  of 
Socrates  and  Plato.  The  "  myth "  regained 
some  of  its  pristine  power  in  a  new  kind  of 
way ;  and  "  God  transcendent  of  the  world 
and  immanent  in  the  world  "  came  prominently 
forward  as  a  doctrine  of  the  universe  and  of 
life.  This  is  the  kernel  of  the  Christian 
theology,  constructed  through  the  blending 
of  Hebrew  and  Greek  philosophies.  Such  a 
conception  remained  very  largely  the  philo- 
sophy as  well  as  the  theology  of  the  Christian 
Church  until  the  seventeenth  century.  During 
this  long  interval  hardly  any  progress  was  made 
in  the  investigation  of  Nature,  so  that  such  a 
theology  proved  rather  a  help  than  a  hindrance 
to  the  religion  of  those  who  understood  it. 
But  such  a  theology  has  been  destroyed,  how- 
ever unwilling  many  people  are  to  acknowledge 
the  fact.  But  until  this  fact  is  acknowledged, 
there  is  very  little  hope,  in  Eucken's  opinion,  of 
the  Christian  religion  gaining  many  adherents 
from  the  side  of  those  who  understand  the 
modern  meaning  and  significance  of  natural 
science.  The  physical  universe  has  become  a 
problem  ;  and  the  old  solution  was  a  matter 


60  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

of  speculation  based  upon  scarcely  any 
observation  and  experiment.  Eucken  marks 
the  stages  which  have  brought  about  a  revolu- 
tion in  our  conceptions  of  the  universe  as 
consisting  of  the  change  brought  about  in  the 
science  of  astronomy  through  Copernicus  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  the  founding  of  exact  science 
through  Galileo  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
the  theory  of  evolution  propounded  by  Darwin 
and  his  followers  in  the  nineteenth  century. 
The  whole  tendency  has  been  to  describe  and 
explain  Nature  in  terms  of  mechanism,  and  to 
extend  such  mechanism  into  the  life  of  man. 
Proof  after  proof  has  poured  upon  us,  and 
has  been  the  means,  on  the  whole,  of  establish- 
ing a  kingdom  of  mechanism  within  the  realm 
of  Nature  and  of  human  nature.  Theology 
and  speculative  philosophy  went  on  their 
courses  unheedful  of  these  developments  of 
physical  science,  until  in  our  day  both  have 
had  to  reconsider  the  tenableness  of  their 
position,  and  to  see  that  Nature  and  its 
physical  manifestations  have  to  enter  as  all- 
important  factors  into  their  reconstructions. 
Miracle  is  now  relegated  to  a  secondary  place 
in  theology,  and  it  has  disappeared  altogether 
from  science ;  a  Supreme  Being  transcendent 
of,  and  immanent  in,  the  world  is  not  known 
to  science,  however  far  it  reaches  into  the  secrets 
of  Nature.  Doubtless  the  loss  to  religion  has 
been  here  incalculable;  for  although  the  natural 
scientist  was  able  to  destroy  the  old  building, 


RELIGION  AND  NATURAL  SCIENCE     61 

he  was  unable  to  construct  a  new  one.  And 
Eucken  shows  that  the  natural  scientist  will 
remain  unable  to  accomplish  this,  because  the 
material  with  which  he  deals  is  physical  in  its 
nature  and  constitutes  no  more  than  a  part— 
a  secondary  part — of  what  is  found  in  the 
world. 

The  old  mode  of  conceiving  the  universe, 
when  driven  from  its  citadel  by  the  new  con- 
ceptions of  physics  and  astronomy,  turned  for 
refuge  to  the  mystery  of  Life  itself.  Here  it 
supposed  itself  to  be  safe.  But  the  develop- 
ment of  modern  chemistry  and  biology  shows 
how  dangerous  it  is  to  base  a  theological  and 
religious  superstructure  on  the  unfilled  clefts 
of  natural  science.  The  lesson  here  during 
the  past  hundred  years  ought  to  be  a  grave 
warning  against  its  repetition  in  the  future. 
These  clefts  have  been  filled  more  and  more 
by  the  investigations  and  results  of  modern 
chemistry  and  biology,  so  that  the  theologian 
is  constantly  kept  in  a  state  of  panic,  and  has 
to  shift  his  camp  and  run  away  when  the  tide 
of  knowledge  sweeps  in  with  its  newly  dis- 
covered results.  The  whole  situation  seems 
serious,  but  it  is  not  so  disastrous  as  it  appears 
at  first  sight.  Doubtless  the  gains  of  science 
have  been  numerous,  and  have  shaken  and 
practically  ruined  the  old  theological  and 
metaphysical  foundations;  but  a  halt  has  now 
been  called  on  science  itself,  and  its  limitations 
have  become  perceptible  even  to  its  own 


62  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

leaders.  It  is  not  quite  so  certain  that  the 
problem  of  organic  life  can  be  settled  in  terms 
of  chemical  combinations  and  mechanism. 
Many  scientists1  are  agreed  on  this  point, 
although  they  repudiate  the  claims  of  neo- 
vitalists  such  as  Driesch  and  Reinke.2  No 
judgment  can  be  pronounced  on  this  subject 
at  the  present  day,  and  probably  the  problem 
will  take  a  long  time  before  any  important 
results  will  accrue.  And  even  these  results 
will  not  solve  the  problem  of  organic  life,  for 
the  manifestations  of  life,  the  higher  we  mount 
the  scale  of  being,  are  not  things  visible  to  the 
senses  but  express  themselves  in  the  forms  of 
meanings  and  will-relations. 

The  limits  of  natural  science  become  clearly 
perceptible  when  we  enter  into  the  complex 
problem  of  the  relation  of  subject  and  object, 

1  The  President  of  the  British  Association  (1912)  states 
in  his  address  that  it  is  not  within  his  province  to  touch 
the  question  concerning  the  nature  of  the  soul.     I  take  the 
report   of  his  address  from   Nature}  5th    September.     Dr 
Haldane  goes  much  further  in  the  direction  of  Vitalism 
(discussion  at  British  Association  on  the  subject). 

2  Cf.  Driesch  :  Philosophy  of  the  Organism ;  Vitalismus  als 
Geschichte   und   Lekre;   his  article  in  Lebensanschauung   (a 
collection  of  essays   by  twenty  German  thinkers,   1911); 
Reinke's    Philosophie  der  Botanik;    M'Dougall's    Body  and 
Mind;    Thomson's   Heredity,  Evolution,  and  Introduction  to 
Science  (the  two  latter  in  the  Home  University  Library). 
Bergson's   Creative  Evolution   deals  with  the  subject,   but 
the   value    of  this   book   is   greater   in   other   directions. 
T.   H.    Morgan's   Regeneration  is    a   weighty  contribution 
to  the  subject. 


RELIGION  AND  NATURAL  SCIENCE     63 

or  of  mind  and  body.  The  final  tribunal  in 
regard  to  the  great  questions  of  life  and  religion 
is  not  natural  science.  This  is  not  a  matter 
of  a  mere  wish  that  it  should  be  so  on  the  part 
of  religious  teachers  who  ignore  the  findings 
of  science,  but  is  a  conviction  of  the  scientists 
themselves. 

Natural  science  has  been  so  busy  with  the 
investigation  of  the  physical  world  that  it  has 
had  time  to  remember  but  little  besides  objects 
in  the  external  world.  And  yet  what  are 
objects  in  the  external  world  without  a  sub- 
ject to  know  them?1  And  what  are  the 
hypotheses  which  science  frames  in  order  to 
explain  phenomena  but  syntheses  of  factors 
framed  in  consciousness  ? 2  What  are  laws  of 
Nature  but  mental  constructions  framed  con- 
cerning similar  ways  of  behaviour  on  the  part 
of  a  large  number  of  objects  ?  What  are  the 
fundamental  conceptions  which  serve  as  the 
very  groundwork  of  the  whole  of  science  but 
concepts  which  are  explanations  of  phenomena 
and  not  themselves  phenomena  ? 3 

Wherever  we  look,  we  find  that  our  view 

1  A  revival  of  the  study  of  Kant's  first  Critique  would  be 
of  great   value  to   our  natural  scientists.     Green,  in   his 
Prolegomena  to  Ethics,  has    interpreted   this   aspect   in   a 
manner   that   ought   not   to   be   forgotten.      Of.    further 
Edward  Caird's  Evolution  of  Religion,  vol.  i. 

2  Ward's  Nattiralism  and  Agnosticism,  vol.  i.,  is  a  reply  to 
this  important  question. 

8  Cf.  Miinsterberg's  Psychology  and  Education,  and  his 
Eternal  Values ;  also  Royce's  The  World  and  the  Individual. 


64  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

of  Nature  is  in  the  first  place  a  result  as  well 
as  a  conviction  of  the  content  of  conscious- 
ness ;  that  we  do  not  perceive  things  and  their 
qualities  in  a  form  of  immediacy,  but  only 
after  they  have  entered  into  consciousness  are 
we  able  to  know  what  external  objects  really 
are.  The  constructions  of  science  in  the  form 
of  hypotheses  and  laws  are  a  proof  that  the 
reality  of  the  physical  world  and  its  meaning 
are  known  only  in  so  far  as  they  are  known 
by  mind,  and  in  so  far  as  the  universal  (which 
is  a  mental  content)  explains  the  particular 
(which  may  or  may  not  be  an  object  in  the 
external  world). 

Eucken  emphasises  this  truth  in  several  of 
his  books,  and  whenever  the  truth  is  borne 
in  mind  the  scientist  becomes  aware  of  the 
existence  of  a  reality  beyond  that  of  the 
objects  of  sense.  And  even  when  the 
scientist  is  unaware  of  the  mental  qualities 
which  operate  in  perceiving  external  objects 
and  of  the  generalisations  formed  as  the  result 
of  the  impressions  left  by  the  objects  in  the 
mind,  he  uses  these  all  the  same.  Professor 
Haeckel  (one  of  Professor  Eucken's  colleagues 
in  Jena)  starts  out  in  The  Riddle  of  the 
Universe  with  the  strong  hope  of  reducing 
the  whole  universe  (including  God)  into  a 
state  of  material  substance,  and  ends  with  a 
kind  of  peroration  on  the  virtues  of  the 
new  goddesses,  the  True,  the  Good,  and  the 
Beautiful. 


RELIGION  AND   NATURAL  SCIENCE     65 

But  an  increasing  number  of  scientists  to- 
day are  aware  of  the  limits  of  science.  They 
know  that  the  mental  models  which  they  have 
to  frame  in  order  to  interpret  phenomena  are 
not  material  things,  and  exist  nowhere  except 
in  a  world  of  mind  and  meaning.  Eucken's 
conclusion  then  is  that  what  knows  and 
interprets  is  a  mental  quality.  He  would 
rather  call  it  the  life  of  the  spirit  of  man,  or 
the  spiritual  life.  A  non-sensuous  power  has 
to  operate  in  order  that  the  physical  world 
may  be  known  at  all ;  that  power  has,  further, 
in  a  manner  unknown,  to  gather  the  frag- 
mentary impressions  of  the  senses,  turn  them 
into  that  which  is  mental,  combine  them  into 
what  is  termed  meaning. 

We  are  led  back  to  the  point  made  so 
clear  by  Descartes — to  his  insistence  on  the 
presence  of  a  thinking  subject  as  the  start- 
ing-point for  the  knowledge  of  all  existence. 
This  truth  was  elucidated  later  by  Kant  in 
a  manner  which  the  world  can  probably  never 
get  rid  of.  Therefore,  if  so  much  happens  in 
the  mind  in  connection  with  the  knowledge 
and  interpretation  of  the  world,  our  view  of 
the  world  after  this  happens  in  the  mind  is 
entirely  different  from  the  view  which  exists 
before  it  happens.  Thought  stands  over 
against  the  sensuous  object,  transforms  the 
object  into  a  logical  construction  of  meaning. 
When  one  becomes  aware  of  this,  not  only 
do  the  objects  themselves  become  most  pro- 

5 


66  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

blematic  in  their  relation  to  consciousness, 
but  the  very  tools  with  which  the  scientist 
works  —  e.g.  space  and  time — become  so 
puzzling  that  only  by  a  return  to  a  metaphysic 
do  they  become  partially  explainable.  And 
thus  we  are  landed  in  a  region  of  idealism  in 
the  very  midst  of  the  work  of  natural  science. 
Naturalism  has  arisen  only  because  the  sub- 
ject was  forgotten  in  the  enchantment  of  the 
object.  The  attention  has  been  turned  so  long 
on  the  object  that  the  nature  and  the  results  of 
the  attention  itself  are  quite  left  out  of  account. 
We  can  all  believe  in  what  naturalism  has  to 
say  concerning  organic  and  inorganic  objects  ; 
but  it  has  not  said  enough  when  it  leaves  the 
power  that  knows  the  meaning  of  what  it  says 
out  of  account. 

The  conclusion  Eucken  arrives  at  is,  then, 
that  we  must  ascribe  reality  to  the  quality  that 
knows  and  interprets  as  well  as  to  the  thing 
that  is  known.  He  ascribes  reality  to  the 
physical  world,  but  this  is  not  the  whole  of 
reality.  This  cannot  be  so,  simply  because 
we  could  not  know  that  the  physical  world 
was  real  had  it  not  been  that  there  was 
implanted  in  us  a  mental  organisation  to  know 
all  this.  The  other  reality  is  that  of  conscious- 
ness and  the  meanings  it  formulates.  Thus 
natural  science  itself  announces  the  presence 
of  more  than  sensuous  nature.  This  more 
which  knows  the  external  world  is  the  more 
which  has  constructed  civilisation,  culture,  and 


RELIGION   AND  NATURAL  SCIENCE     67 

religion.  This  more  has  formed  an  indepen- 
dent inner  life  over  against  the  natural  world. 
Had  it  not  been  for  this  power  of  the  more  to 
construct  its  inner  world,  Life  would  have  been 
no  more  than  the  life  of  sensuous  nature — 
shifting  from  point  to  point,  and  entirely  at 
the  mercy  of  a  physical  environment.  But 
the  progress  of  mankind  shows  everywhere  the 
growth  of  a  life  higher  in  nature  than  that  of 
physical  or  animal  existence.  Some  kind  of 
total-life  has  been  formed  in  which  the  in- 
dividual can  participate ;  and  in  the  participa- 
tion of  which  he  can  be  carried  far  beyond 
physical  things  and  beyond  his  own  individual 
interests.  Mankind  has  striven  after  truth, 
and  has  discovered  something  that  is  beyond 
the  opinions  of  individuals,  that  does  not  serve 
his  own  petty  interests,  but  overcomes  them 
and  reaches  out  after  truths  which  are  valid 
and  good  for  all. 

What  is  all  this  that  has  happened  ?  What 
has  brought  it  about  ?  What  is  the  individual 
potency  that  knows  the  world  and  passes 
beyond  it?  What  are  the  ideals  and  norms 
which  revealed  themselves  in  the  co-operative 
movements  of  humanity,  and  only  revealed 
themselves  when  humanity  was  at  its  highest 
attainable  level?  Enough  has  been  said  to  show 
that  it  is  more  than  Nature,  that  characteristics 
are  found  within  it  entirely  unknown  in  Nature. 
We  are  bound  to  take  this  more  into  account, 
for  it  has  constructed  all  the  gains  of  mankind. 


68  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

What  can  it  be,  in  the  individual  efforts  of  the 
soul  and  in  the  ideal  constructions  of  science 
and  the  higher  ethical  and  religious  construc- 
tions of  life,  but  a  reality  higher  than  sense 
and  outside  the  categories  of  space  and  time  ? 
What  better  name  can  be  given  to  it  than  a 
Spiritual  Life  in  contradistinction  to  the  life  of 
Nature  ? 

When  this  life  of  the  mind  and  spirit  of 
man  is  acknowledged,  it  is  seen  to  be  the 
beginning  of  a  new  order  of  existence.  There 
appears  within  it  a  new  kind  of  reality.  It  is 
the  standpoint  from  which  natural  science 
itself  has  arisen.  Such  an  acknowledgment 
of  life  as  a  new  kind  of  reality  alters  in  an 
essential  manner  the  whole  view  of  the  world. 
Nature  now  signifies  not  the  whole  of  things, 
but  only  a  step  beyond  which  the  cosmic 
process  progresses.  Two  worlds,  instead  of 
one  world,  now  appear — one  growing  out  of 
the  other,  but  keeping  a  connection  still  with 
the  other.  Nature  consequently  gains  a  deeper 
significance  of  meaning  when  we  recognise 
that  it  gives  birth  to  mind  and  spirit- 
characteristics  which  merge  into  consciousness, 
values,  and  ideals.  Nature  is  not  discarded  in 
our  new  view,  but  it  takes  a  secondary  place. 
The  primary  place  must  be  given  to  the 
spiritual  life — the  life  which  is  active  as  an 
organisation  in  knowing  and  being  and  doing. 
And  when  this  truth  is  realised,  this  life  of 
mental  and  spiritual  activity  becomes  the 


RELIGION   AND   NATURAL  SCIENCE     69 

centre  from  which  the  new  reality  will  obtain 
an  ever  greater  content.  The  deepest  aspect 
of  reality  is  then  discovered,  not  without  but 
within.  This  reality  is  now  conceived  as 
something  which  belongs  to  a  new  kind  of 
world,  and  this  new  world  stands  above  the 
physical  world.  Man,  when  he  conceives  of 
things  in  this  manner,  will  be  able  to  bear  the 
indifference  of  the  physical  course  of  existence 
towards  the  spiritual  potencies  of  his  being. 
The  natural  process  may  seem  to  harass  and 
even  destroy  him ;  it  matters  not,  for  he  has 
been  led  to  a  conviction  of  the  possession  of 
qualities  which  have  not  come  into  activity 
and  power  in  any  world  below  him,  and  which 
have  laws  of  their  own  and  goals  spiritual  in 
their  nature.  But  all  this  will  not  come  about 
as  a  shower  of  rain  descends.  The  spiritual 
life  has  to  insist  on  its  superiority  to  the 
natural  process,  and  to  construct,  with  the 
deepest  energy  of  its  being,  ever  richer  moral 
and  spiritual  contents  for  itself;  for  it  is  these 
contents  which  constitute  the  growth  of  the 
meaning  and  value  of  the  new  world,  as  well 
as  of  its  indestructible  reality  beyond  the 
process  of  Nature. 


CHAPTER  IV 

RELIGION    AND    HISTORY 

THE  subject  of  history  has  obtained  a  most 
prominent  position  in  the  whole  of  Eucken's 
philosophy.  All  his  books  deal  with  the 
subject,  and  in  a  manner  resembling  one 
another,  whatever  the  particular  subject  dealt 
with  may  be.  But  the  most  exhaustive  treat- 
ment of  history  presented  in  his  volumes  is  to 
to  be  found  in  the  chapter  on  history  in 
Systematische  Philosophic  ("  Kultur  der  Gegen- 
wart,"  Teil  I.,  Abteilung  VI.),  and  in  the  latter 
half  of  The  Truth  of  Religion.  In  the 
former  volume  Eucken  deals  with  history  in 
its  relation  to  civilisation  and  culture,  and  in 
the  latter  the  place  of  history  in  the  religions 
of  the  world  is  strikingly  expressed. 

We  have  already  noticed  in  the  previous 
chapter  how  he  set  out  to  discover  the 
presence  of  a  mental  or  spiritual  life  in  the 
very  act  of  knowing  the  physical  world  and  in 
the  constructions  which  form  both  the  basis  and 
the  apex  of  physical  science.  It  was  shown 

70 


RELIGION   AND   HISTORY  71 

here  that  a  life  higher  than  the  physical  was 
present  in  order  to  be  able  to  read  the  meaning 
of  the  world.  Such  a  life  became  a  standpoint 
to  view  Nature,  and  is  the  possession,  more 
or  less,  of  each  individual.  But  although  the 
possession  of  individuals  and  above  Nature, 
the  consciousness  that  knows  Nature  is  still 
carried  beyond  its  own  individual  life.  The 
meaning  of  the  physical  world  appears  in 
consciousness,  through  the  syntheses  it  forms, 
as  objective,  although  it  is  not  an  object  of 
sense  but  of  thought ;  and,  further,  this  very 
objectivity  subsists  in  the  form  of  generalisa- 
tions and  meanings  which  create  standards 
for  each  individual  in  his  relations  with  the 
physical  world.  Eucken  then  concludes  that 
there  is  a  trans-subjective  aspect  present  in  the 
conclusions  of  physical  science  itself.1  And  it 
is  on  this  fact  that  he  bases  the  presence  of  a 
mental  or  spiritual  life  in  the  very  act  of 
knowing  at  all.  But  it  is  evident  that  the 
whole  of  man's  potencies  and  relations  are  not 
confined  to  the  knowing  of  Nature  and 
framing  interpretations  concerning  it.  There 
are  other  provinces  to  which  man  is  related- 
other  objects  besides  physical  ones  to  which 
his  attention  is  called  to  frame  interpretations 
concerning  them  also.  History  is  one  of  these 
provinces.  The  subject-matter  here  is  entirely 

1  This  trans-subjective  aspect  has  been  worked  out  in  an 
original  way  by  Volkelt  in  his  Quellen  der  menschlichen 
Gewissheit. 


72  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

different  from  the  subject-matter  of  physical 
science.  In  the  latter  the  objects  are  physical ; 
in  the  former  the  objects  are  not  things,  but 
will-relations.1  We  are  in  history  dealing 
with  the  effects  of  heredity  and  physical 
environment  upon  all  organic  life  —  man 
included.  But  it  has  been  already  shown  that 
man,  though  rooted  in  the  natural  world  and 
dependent  upon  it,  is  still  the  possessor  of  a 
world  which  is  above  the  physical.  Man's 
roots  in  Nature  have  been  unearthed  in  a  large 
measure  ;  and  his  dependence  on  the  world 
from  which  he  has  emerged  is  greater  than 
was  suspected,  and  probably  it  will  be  dis- 
covered in  the  future  that  he  is  still  more 
dependent  on  what  is  below  him.  But  how- 
ever deep  his  connection  with  Nature  may 
prove  itself  to  be,  he  will  still  remain  an 
unsolved  problem  if  he  is  coolly  stripped  of 
all  the  qualities  he  has  gained  since  he  emerged 
from  the  bosom  of  Nature. 

We  are  consequently  led  to  the  higher 
aspects  of  history  where  the  centre  of  gravity 
of  the  matter  lies  in  the  relations  of  wills. 

By  will-relations  is  meant  the  impact  of  in- 
dividuals upon  one  another  from  the  side  of 
meaning.  It  is  through  the  expressions  of  the 
meaning  of  our  concepts  that  we  are  able  to 
construct  an  intelligible  world.  The  indi- 

1  The  works  of  Miinsterberg  and  Rickert  deal  with 
great  clearness  on  this  difference  of  subject-matter  in 
science  and  history. 


RELIGION   AND   HISTORY  73 

vidual's  deeper  reality  does  not  consist  in  the 
percept  we  obtain  of  him,  but  in  the  mental 
attitude  he  has  expressed  towards  a  mental 
attitude  of  ours.  The  clothing  of  meaning  is 
certainly  physical ;  there  is  our  friend's  physical 
body  in  front  of  us,  and  his  speech  is  audible  in 
a  physical  sense  to  physical  ears.  But  neither 
body  nor  speech  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the 
expression  of  meaning  to  another.  We  have 
neither  seen  nor  heard  many  of  the  individuals 
who  have  exercised  great  influence  over  our 
lives.  Words  have  answered  the  purpose. 
By  this  is  not  meant  that  we  have  not  lost 
something  of  great  value  in  having  to  depend 
on  print  alone.  Something  of  every  individual 
reveals  itself  in  his  body  and  speech  which  is 
missed  when  we  have  to  depend  on  paper  and 
ink  as  mediums  of  meaning.  But  meaning 
is  something  other  than  its  medium ;  it  is  a 
mental  or  spiritual  content.  This  content  has 
to  be  classified  and  interpreted.  The  interpreta- 
tion forms  here  again,  as  on  the  level  of  natural 
science,  syntheses  and  generalisations  larger 
than  any  one  individual.  These  are  the 
resultants  of  mind  with  mind  and  will  with 
will.  When  human  beings  come  into  contact 
with  each  other,  there  originates  a  state  of 
things  in  which  something  is  thought  and  done. 
What  is  thought  and  done  deals  with  situa- 
tions outside  the  situation  of  each  individual. 
The  interpretation  of  these  situations  is,  there- 
fore, an  objective  reality  which  becomes  a 


74  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

norm  for  each  individual.  Mankind  has  thus 
created  a  reality  which  is  beyond  that  of  the 
content  of  each  individual's  experience  as  an 
individual. 

We  thus  see  that  there  are  presented  in  such 
norms  two  aspects  of  a  very  different  nature. 
On  the  one  hand,  we  discover  the  contribution 
of  each  individual,  and  witness  events  dealing 
with  situations  which  succeed  one  another  with 
greater  or  less  rapidity.  This  aspect  is  in 
constant  flux.  It  constitutes  the  capability  of 
meeting  the  needs  of  the  moment.  All  this 
works  well  so  long  as  the  needs  of  the  moment 
involve  no  great  complexities.  But  immedi- 
ately the  situation  becomes  complex  there  is 
a  turn  to  something  besides  this  mere  flow  of 
things.1  To  what  ?  It  is  a  turn  to  something 
whose  nucleus  of  meaning  and  value  has 
persisted  in  the  midst  of  all  the  flow.  This 
is  no  other  than  one  or  other  of  the  highest  of 
the  ideal  constructions  which  formed  the  basis 
of  the  life  of  the  community.  The  community 
had  been  unconsciously  garnering  something 
over-individual  and  over-historical  for  its  future 
use.  Thus,  in  history  itself  there  is  the 
presence  of  a  reality  higher  than  the  individual, 
and  higher  than  the  ordinary  meaning  of  the 

1  The  main  weakness  of  Bergson's  philosophy  seems  to 
be  in  not  recognising  this  problem.  Bosanquet,  in  his 
Principle  of  Individuality  and  Falue,  has  very  clearly 
recognised  and  interpreted  it  upon  similar  lines  to 
Eucken. 


RELIGION  AND   HISTORY  75 

hour.  This  becomes  the  standard  by  which 
everything  has  to  be  measured.  Of  course, 
this  norm  does  not  remain  static  in  regard  to 
its  own  content.  But  its  growth  of  content 
depends  upon  the  contributions  made  to  it  by 
individuals  in  their  will-relations.  Something 
over-individual  issues  out  of  all  these  relations, 
and  this  enters  into  the  still  higher  over- 
individual  norms  which  are  the  heritage  of 
society.  Eucken  consequently  shows  that 
history  itself  is  dependent  upon  something 
which  works  within  it — interpreting  its  events, 
and  absorbing  into  itself  something  that  is  of 
value.  What  other  can  this  be  but  a  spiritual 
life  higher  not  only  than  physical  things  but 
even  than  the  will-relations  which  accrue  from 
moment  to  moment  ?  It  has  already  been 
noticed  that  on  these  lower  levels  the  spiritual 
life  is  ever  present — present  as  a  potency  and 
experience  when  viewed  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  individual's  creativeness,  and  present 
as  norms  and  values  when  viewed  as  an  object 
of  thought  brought  forth  through  general  con- 
clusions founded  on  situations  beyond  any 
single  situation  of  the  individual.  Thus,  we 
get  in  Eucken's  teaching  the  over-historical 
as  the  power  which  operates  within  the  events 
of  history.  It  is  what  philosophy  has  termed 
the  Ideal,  and  what  religion  has  termed  the 
revelation  of  God.  It  is  not  correct,  then,  to 
say  that  we  are  dependent  upon  the  content 
of  the  moment  apart  from  the  presence  of  the 


76  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

content  of  the  past  in  that  moment  in  order 
to  grasp  reality.  The  Past  does  not  mean  a 
mere  series  of  events  which  occurred  some 
hundreds  or  thousands  of  years  ago,  and  before 
which  we  bend  and  towards  which  we  try  to 
turn  back  the  world,  for  that  would  mean 
what  Eucken  terms  "mere  historism."  The 
Past  has  rolled  its  meaning  down  to  the 
Present :  the  Past  mingled  with  the  content 
of  the  Present  is  at  each  point  of  its  course 
something  other  than  it  was  before.1  But  in 
any  case  this  aspect  of  the  Past  as  presented 
by  Eucken  shows  that  human  life  requires  a 
great  span  of  time  which  has  already  run  in 
order  to  create  its  ideals  and  to  be  raised  from 
the  triviality  of  the  mere  moment.  Goethe 
perceived  the  importance  of  the  same  truth  :— 

"  Wer  nicht  von  drei  tausend  Jahren  sich  weiss 

Rechenschaft  zu  geben, 

Bleib'  im  Dunkeln  unerfahren,  mag  von  Tag 
Zu  Tage  leben  !  " 

At  certain  epochs  in  the  history  of  the  world 
great  events  have  happened.  Often  such 
epochs  are  followed  by  epochs  of  inertia. 
Men  bask  in  the  sunlight  of  the  glory  that 
was  revealed  to  humanity ;  they  receive  help 
and  strength  from  what  had  been.  But  the 
greater  the  interval  between  the  occurrence 

1  In  this  respect  Eucken  and  Bergson  seem  to  agree, 
although  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  this  aspect  of  Bergson's 
with  his  statements  concerning  the  grasping  of  reality  in 
the  perceptions  of  the  moment. 


RELIGION  AND   HISTORY  77 

of  that  greatness  and  the  contemplation  of  it, 
the  more  difficult  does  it  become  to  grasp  and 
to  possess  something  of  the  true  meaning, 
value,  and  significance  of  such  greatness.  The 
greatness,  as  the  interval  grows,  becomes  some- 
thing to  be  known,  something  which  is  believed 
to  fall  upon  us  in  an  external,  miraculous 
manner  ;  and  finally  it  often  becomes  an  object 
of  wordy  dispute  and  strife.  Certain  periods 
in  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church  give 
abundant  evidence  of  the  truth  of  this  state- 
ment. Eucken  points  out  in  his  Problem  of 
Human  Life  how  barren  in  creative  power, 
for  instance,  was  the  fourth  century.  Why  ? 
An  interval  of  nearly  three  centuries  had 
passed  away  since  the  Master  and  his  followers 
had  proclaimed  truths  and  experiences  which 
were  the  burning  convictions  of  their  deepest 
being.  Gradually,  and  often  unconsciously, 
men  glided  down  an  inclined  plane,  until  at 
last  the  spiritual  nucleus  of  Christianity  had 
largely  disappeared  and  little  more  than  the 
husks  remained.  At  the  close  of  such  intervals 
religion  becomes  a  number  of  conflicting  in- 
tellectual theories,  and  the  worst  passions  are 
called  to  its  support.  Dogmatism  and  intoler- 
ance prevail,  and  a  blight  comes  over  the 
choicest  potencies  of  the  soul.  All  this 
happens  because  certain  great  events  and  ex- 
periences of  the  past  are  conceived  of  as 
marking  a  terminus  in  the  history  of  the  moral 
and  spiritual  evolution  of  the  world.  The 


78  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

soul  is  not  stirred  to  its  depth  to  preserve  such 
experiences  and,  if  possible,  enhance  them. 
Thus  the  world  leaves  such  a  rich  spiritual 
content  largely  behind  itself;  and  when  this 
happens,  it  becomes  a  matter  of  the  greatest 
difficulty  to  recover  it.  And  even  when  it  is 
recovered,  something  of  infinite  value  has  been 
for  ever  lost.  The  present  moment  of  the 
soul  has  to  live  on  itself;  and  such  a  life 
remains  alien  to  depths  of  reality  which  have 
been  plumbed  by  the  great  personalities  of 
history  in  the  past.  It  is  a  want  of  convic- 
tion in  truth  and  reality  that  makes  us  seek 
finality  in  the  past.  It  may  be  that  the 
highest  personalities  of  our  day  are  not  able  to 
scale  such  spiritual  heights  as  were  scaled  by  the 
Christians  of  the  primitive  Church  ;  but  unless 
they  believe  that  the  same  power  is  present  in 
their  souls  they  will  never  have  courage  even 
to  make  the  attempt.  It  is  a  vision  of  the 
nature  of  the  reality  which  was  climbed  by  the 
personalities  of  the  past,  coupled  with  the 
consciousness  of  the  same  spiritual  power  in 
the  present,  that  will  enable  Christianity  to 
be  lived  on  such  a  "  grand  scale  "  in  the  present 
and  the  future.  The  spiritual  experiences  of 
the  past  have  become  over-individual  and  over- 
historical  norms  for  our  lives ;  but  such  norms 
are  no  more  than  ideas  until  the  will  enters  into 
a  relation  with  them.  When  this  happens,  the 
individual  does  not  only  observe  a  goal  in  the 
distance  but  also  starts  to  move  towards  such 


RELIGION  AND   HISTORY  79 

a  goal  with  the  whole  spiritual  energy  of  his 
nature.  And  every  individual  who  moves  in 
the  direction  of  such  norms  brings  some  con- 
tribution of  value  from  the  present  to  be 
added  to  the  norms  of  the  past.  The  spiritual 
life  is  thus  individual  and  over  -  individual, 
historical  and  over-historical,  transcendent  and 
immanent. 

Eucken  has  worked  for  many  years  at  this 
difficult  problem — a  problem  so  important  in 
the  life  of  civilisation  and  religion.  It  has 
already  been  hinted  that  the  conception  bears 
striking  resemblances  to  aspects  of  Hegel's 
philosophy.  But  there  are  differences.  One 
of  these  was  pointed  out  long  ago  by  Eucken : 
"  The  gist  of  religion  is  with  Hegel  nothing 
but  the  absorption  of  the  individual  in  the 
universal  intellectual  process.  How  such  a 
conception  can  be  identified  with  moral  re- 
generation of  the  Christian  type,  with  purifica- 
tion of  the  heart,  is  unintelligible  to  us."1 
Eucken's  philosophy,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
pre-eminently  a  spiritual  activism.  The  life- 
process  is  shaped  by  the  collective  activity  of 
individuals  ;  and  when  this  activity  slackens  the 
ideals  of  the  over- world  suffer.  Man  is  thus 
called  to  be  what  he  ought  to  be ;  and  in  the 
process  he  heightens  something  of  the  value  of 
the  Ought.  An  Ought  and  a  Will  are  involved 
in  the  creativeness  of  the  individual  life  and  of 
the  Life-process  ;  so  that  it  is  a  mistake  to  con- 

1  "Hegel  To-day,"  The  Monist,  April  1897. 


80  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

ceive  of  Eucken's  activism  as  some  stirring  of 
the  individual  to  realise  merely  his  own  needs 
as  these  present  themselves  to  him  from 
moment  to  moment.  He  is  called  and  de- 
stined to  do  infinitely  more ;  he  is  to  be  a 
creator  of  the  Life-process  and  a  carrier  in  the 
making  of  a  new  world ;  but  all  this  can  be 
done  only  from  the  standpoint  of  a  vision  of  a 
spiritual  life  superior  to  history  and  to  the 
individual  himself.  Vision  and  action  are  to 
be  ever  present.  In  the  light  of  the  vision 
man  becomes  more  than  he  now  is ;  through 
action  the  vision  increases  in  depth  and  value. 

What  relation  this  has  to  the  conception  of 
the  Godhead  will  be  dealt  with  in  a  later 
chapter.  It  is  enough  at  present  to  bear  in 
mind  that,  as  far  as  we  have  gone,  a  reality 
above  sense,  time,  history,  and  the  content  of 
the  individual  life  has  become  evident.  And 
it  is  such  a  reality  which  gives  meaning  to  the 
events  of  history. 

It  has  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  much  which 
is  natural  and  of  the  earth  enters  into  history. 
Such  effects  have  become  clearly  discernible  in 
modern  times.  Physical  conditions  do  exer- 
cise an  influence,  and  hem  the  course  of  the 
spiritual  life.  The  indifference  of  the  physical 
order  of  things  to  the  ethical  values  of  history 
is  a  problem  which  constantly  perplexes  every 
thinking  mind.  No  solution  to  the  puzzles  of 
life  is  to  be  found  in  Nature.  What  do  we 
discover  there  ?  "  We  discover  enchainments 


RELIGION  AND   HISTORY  81 

of  phenomena  which  seem  to  conduct  to  the 
creation  of  great  misery  and  which,  with  un- 
merciful callousness,  drive  man  over  the  brink 
of  an  abyss.  The  faintest  hint  would  have 
sufficed  to  hold  him  back  from  such  a  cata- 
strophe ;  but  this  is  not  given,  and  consequently 
destruction  takes  its  course.  Petty  accidents 
destroy  life  and  happiness  ;  a  moment  annihi- 
lates the  most  toilsome  work.  Often,  also,  we 
discover  a  chaotic  medley,  a  sudden  overthrow 
of  all  potency,  a  seeming  indifference  towards 
all  human  weal  and  woe,  a  blind  groping  in  the 
dark ;  we  discover  gloomy  possibilities  con- 
stantly sweeping  as  dark  clouds  over  man  and 
occasionally  descending  as  a  crashing  tempest." l 
Hundreds  of  similar  examples  may  be  found  in 
Eucken's  books,  and  all  point  to  the  insufficiency 
of  the  natural  process  for  satisfying  the  deepest 
needs  of  our  being.  But  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  the  natural  process  accompanies  Life 
everywhere,  man  has  built  a  world  beyond  the 
world  of  sense. 

With  the  entrance  of  the  spiritual  life  a  new 
mode  of  history  makes  its  appearance.  This 
fact  is  to  be  witnessed  in  the  tools  invented  by 
man  in  order  to  overcome  physical  barriers. 
The  growth  of  technics  in  our  own  day  is  a 
proof  of  Nature  yielding  here  and  there  to  the 
demands  of  life  and  intellect.  This  has  all 
been  brought  about  by  mentality,  and  new 
modes  of  living  are  the  result. 

1  Truth  of  Religion,  p.  328. 

6 


82  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

And  when  we  enter  the  domain  of  human 
society  the  superiority  of  the  spiritual  life  be- 
comes evident  here  as  well.  It  is  true  that  we 
are  as  yet  far  from  any  ideals  of  human  society 
which  include  the  good  of  all,  and  which  bind 
all  together  in  spite  of  radical  differences  that 
will  continue  to  persist.  Systems  of  various 
kinds  are  presented — often  at  variance  with  one 
another ;  but  even  these  are  evidence  of  a  spirit- 
ual life  far  above  the  achievements  of  any  single 
individuals.  What  must  we  do  ?  We  must 
all  work  on  in  the  direction  of  the  highest :  and 
the  higher  we  mount  the  nearer  we  are  to  a 
point  of  convergence  of  all  the  different  syn- 
theses ;  and  out  of  the  union  there  will  be  born 
a  synthesis  which  will  include  the  whole  family 
of  man.  We  possess  already  such  a  synthesis 
partially  realised  here  and  there  in  the  lives  of 
the  greatest  personalities  of  history  ;  but  to  the 
mass  of  mankind  such  a  synthesis  is  little  more 
than  a  name,  even  though  that  name  be  God 
or  Infinite  Love.  The  content  of  the  name 
has  to  be  realised:  and  this  can  never  come 
about  except  through  a  deep  stirring  and  long- 
ing, through  enormous  sacrifices,  painful  and 
recurring  failures,  to  issue  finally  in  a  conquest 
—a  height  attained  by  mankind  on  which  the 
content  of  God  and  Infinite  Love  will  be  born 
in  the  soul  as  a  living,  personal,  and  durable 
experience.  When  this  comes  to  be — and 
every  genuine  effort  in  the  movement  of  our 
higher  being  brings  us  nearer  to  it — there  issues 


RELIGION   AND   HISTORY  83 

an  incomparably  higher  mode  of  life.  Thus  a 
new  history  is  framed  through  the  spiritual 
activities  of  individuals  ;  and  something  of  its 
very  nature  and  of  the  mode  by  which  such  a 
reality  can  be  reached  will  become  an  atmo- 
sphere into  which  future  generations  will  be 
born,  as  well  a  higher  condition  than  has  ever 
previously  existed  to  hail  the  entrance  of 
human  souls  into  the  world. 

Eucken  insists  that  it  is  not  the  movement 
of  democracy  towards  better  social  conditions 
that  will  be  effective  in  bringing  about  such  a 
change.  Much,  of  course,  can  be  effected  by 
better  social  conditions.  There  are  needs 
to-day  in  connection  with  labour  which  ought 
to  be  met.  But  at  the  best  they  can  do 
no  more  than  touch  the  periphery  of  human 
existence.  A  poverty  in  the  "  inward  parts  " 
will  still  exist  in  the  midst  of  external  plenty. 
But  if  men  and  women  could  be  brought  to 
the  consciousness  of  spiritual  ideals  and  their 
efficacy,  a  disposition  of  soul  and  character 
would  be  created  which  would  rapidly  change 
the  evil  conditions  of  life  and  the  perplex- 
ing problems  of  capital  and  labour.  Several 
writers  have  gone  astray  when  they  have 
imagined  that  Eucken  has  but  scant  sympathy 
with  the  social  needs  of  our  times.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  find  anywhere  a  man  of  a  more 
tender  heart.  But  he  sees  deeper  than  the 
level  of  material  and  social  needs  and  their 
fulfilment.  He  sees  that  it  is  only  by  a  change 


84  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

of  disposition  and  attitude  of  the  soul  that  per- 
manent changes  in  the  material  well-being  of 
the  world  can  come  about.  For  it  is  in  the 
soul's  relation  with  its  over-individual  and 
over-historical  ideals  that  permanent  qualities 
can  be  created  and  preserved  :  it  is  in  our  own 
deepest  being,  through  a  conviction  of  the 
values  of  sympathy,  sacrifice,  and  love  that 
any  genuine  history  can  find  its  birth  and 
nurture.  We  require  to  pay  no  less  attention 
to  the  things  of  the  body ;  but  the  things  of 
the  spirit  must  step  into  the  foreground  of  life 
once  again.  Then  we  are  working  at  the 
heart  of  the  Life-process  —  a  Life-process 
which  is  the  beginning  of  a  new  cosmic 
process ;  and  what  will  issue  out  of  such  a 
result  will  probably  be  greater  and  better  than 
anything  we  can  dream  of.  Men  are  called  to 
this  work  to-day.  They  understand  but  little 
its  significance  and  its  trend ;  they  must  be 
willing  to  learn  from  those  who  have  lived 
through  these  problems,  and  who  see  ramifica- 
tions of  the  problems  into  a  soil  deeper  than  is 
perceptible  by  the  masses.  The  masses  must 
be  willing  to  be  taught  in  the  things  of  the 
spirit.  Hence  we  see  the  need  of  great 
personalities  who  will  combine  in  their  own 
souls  a  penetrating  knowledge  and  an  intense 
enthusiasm  for  the  real  welfare  of  mankind. 
A  true  history  can  never  be  born  outside  this 
region ;  the  world,  without  such  a  conviction, 
can  only  wander  out  of  one  morass  into 


RELIGION   AND   HISTORY  85 

another ;  and  failure  after  failure  will  be  the 
inevitable  result  of  all  the  attempts.  Move- 
ments will  have  value  and  duration  only  in 
so  far  as  they  are  the  outcome  of  a  need  of 
a  spiritual  life  which  includes  demands  of 
intellect,  morality,  and  religious  idealism. 

Eucken  shows  at  the  close  of  his  remarkable 
article  in  Beitrcige  zur  Weiterentwickelung 
der  Religion  that  some  form  or  other  of 
the  Eternal  must  enter  into  time  and  its 
changes,  and  become  a  norm  towards  which 
mankind  will  move.  When  this  happens, 
mankind  will  not  be  content  to  look  merely 
beyond  the  grave  for  the  redemption  of  the 
race  and  the  annihilation  of  sin.  The  very 
world  in  which  we  live  is  surrounded  by  an 
over- world  of  ideal  truth  and  goodness.  Why 
should  we  live  on  "  hope  and  tarrying "  when 
there  is  so  much  to  be  done  and  gained  ?  The 
energies  of  men  run  on  such  lines  into  "  sickly 
sentimentalism "  and  "  watery  wishes,"  and 
nothing  great  issues  out  of  our  activities  on 
the  surface  of  life.  History  becomes  no  more 
than  a  succession  of  changes  of  which  the 
later  are  of  no  more  value  than  the  earlier. 
All  this  happens,  because  there  is  no  Eternal 
—no  over-world  of  over-individual  and  over- 
historical  values — present.  In  a  large  measure 
our  very  religion  grants  us  here  but  little  help. 
It  is  either  a  contemplation  of  certain  events  in 
the  past  which  were  delivered  for  once  and  for 
all  or  an  immersion  in  the  social  environment. 


86  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

We  remain  aliens  to  the  truth  that  these 
events  can  be  repeated  to-day.  We  are  not 
convinced  as  to  the  possibilities  of  our  own 
nature  and  of  the  realisation  of  the  Divine  in 
the  making  of  history.  Our  age  is  an  age  of 
stripping  things  of  their  connections  and 
qualities  and  of  finding  their  essence  in  what 
they  were  and  not  in  what  they  are  and  ought 
to  be.  Even  history  is  brought  back  to  its 
origin  from  savagery ;  and  its  explanation  is 
sought  in  its  beginnings  and  not  in  its  ends ; 
the  aspirations  of  the  soul  are  supposed  to  be 
explained  in  their  totality  when  biological  and 
psychological  names  are  given  them ;  en- 
thusiasm and  conviction,  which  leave  the  level 
of  the  daily  rut  and  the  conventionalities  of 
society,  are  branded  as  signs  of  shallowness 
and  even  of  insanity.  We  are  in  the  midst 
of  plenty,  and  feed  on  husks.  The  situation 
will  not  be  altered  until  we  turn  from 
intellect  to  intuition — which  is  no  other  than  a 
turn  from  the  mere  way  in  which  things  are  put 
together  to  what  the  things  essentially  are  and 
ought  to  be  in  their  meaning  and  value. 
When  this  happens,  a  new  meaning  will  be 
given  to  history,  and  the  events  of  the  day 
will  be  illumined  and  valued  in  the  light  of 
the  standard  of  spiritual  ideals.  Can  we  then 
doubt  that  there  works  in  history  a  Divine 
element  which  is  over-historical,  and  which 
alone  gives  their  meanings  and  values  to  the 
events  of  history  itself  ? 


CHAPTER   V 

RELIGION    AND    PSYCHOLOGY 

IT  has  been  noticed  in  the  two  previous 
chapters  how  Eucken  discovered  the  presence 
of  a  mental  or  spiritual  life  in  the  very  act  of 
knowing  any  object  in  the  physical  world. 
And  the  presence  of  such  a  life  enables  the 
percept  to  turn  into  a  concept.  Such  a  con- 
cept is  something  far  removed  from  the  level 
of  the  sensuous  object  or  of  its  mere  percep- 
tion. We  are  in  this  very  act  in  a  world  of 
meaning.  When  such  a  meaning  comes  to  be 
acknowledged,  it  forms  a  kind  of  standard 
which  interprets  any  future  facts  that  enter 
into  it.  The  further  the  progress  of  the  know- 
ledge of  physical  objects  advances  the  more 
the  concepts  become  removed  from  the  level 
of  the  sensuous ;  as  is  witnessed,  for  instance, 
in  the  forms  of  laws  and  hypotheses,  which 
constitute  the  very  groundwork  of  physical 
science.  The  physical  scientist,  whether  he  is 
conscious  of  it  or  riot,  has  constructed  an  ideal 
world  of  meaning  which  constitutes  the  ex- 

87 


88  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

planation  of  the  external  world.  This  is  a 
fact  so  familiar  that  it  needs  no  further  elucida- 
tion here.  But  there  is  great  need  for  calling 
attention  to  the  power  which  does  all  this  as  well 
as  to  the  reality  of  the  interpretation  which  that 
power,  in  its  contact  with  physical  phenomena, 
has  brought  forth.  That  such  a  power  of  the 
mind  is  connected  with  physical  existence 
does  not  in  the  least  explain  its  nature.  It  is 
not  physical  now ;  it  is  meaning  and  value, 
and  there  is  no  such  thing  as  meaning  or  value 
in  the  nature  of  physical  objects  in  themselves. 
Their  meaning  and  value  come  into  being 
when  they  serve  a  purpose  which  the  mind 
has  framed  concerning  them.  Eucken  insists 
that  a  reality  must  be  ascribed  to  so  much  as 
all  this — to  that  which  knows  and  interprets 
Nature.  However  much  Nature  and  Spirit 
resemble  one  another,  however  much  the 
latter  is  dependent  on  the  former,  Nature 
must  be  conceived  as  exhibiting  a  lower  grade 
of  reality  than  mind.  Indeed,  Nature  could 
not  exist  for  mind  unless  there  were  a  mind  to 
know  it ;  and  this  fact  inevitably  leads  us  to 
ask  the  question,  whether  Nature  could  exist 
at  all.1 

Eucken  maintains  that  the  insufficient  atten- 
tion paid  to  this  priority  of  the  subject  is  the 

1  Green  has  dealt  with  this  aspect  in  the  first  part  of 
his  Prolegomena  to  Ethics  in  practically  the  same  way  as 
Eucken.  Cf.  also  Nettleship's  Life  of  Green  and  his 
(Nettleship's)  Philosophical  Remains. 


RELIGION  AND  PSYCHOLOGY  89 

defect  of  all  the  systems  which  have  reduced  life 
and  all  its  values  to  their  lowest  denominator. 
A  naive  realism  is  a  relic  of  past  ancestry  ;  it  is 
a  failure  to  conceive  anything  as  reality  unless 
it  lends  itself  to  the  senses.  Had  men  not 
grasped  a  higher  order  of  reality  than  that  of 
the  external  object,  none  of  the  mental  and 
moral  gains  of  the  world  would  ever  have 
been  realised.  Hence,  man  has  to  insist  that 
the  mental  or  spiritual  life  is  the  possessor 
of  a  reality  of  its  own,  although  much  of  the 
material  comprising  that  reality  has  been 
drawn  from  the  physical  world  through  the 
senses.  But  the  spiritual  life  has  proceeded  far 
beyond  these  initial  stages  of  knowing  the 
world.  Material  of  a  kind  other  than  the 
physical  has  presented  itself  to  it.  Thus,  in 
will-relations  we  find  the  material  itself  be- 
longing to  a  higher  order  of  existence  than 
the  material  of  the  physical  world.  It  is  then 
what  might  be  expected  when  the  spiritual 
life,  within  the  domain  of  events  of  human 
history,  forms  a  Life-system  higher  in  its 
nature  than  the  natural  process. 

Eucken  then  concludes  that  Nature  and 
History  require  for  their  interpretation  the 
presence  of  a  spiritual  life.  Nature  involves 
the  spiritual  in  the  very  power  of  mind  in 
knowing  external  things.  He  would  not  state 
that  the  physical  course  of  things  is  enough  in 
itself  to  prove  the  existence  of  spiritual  life. 
We  are  uncertain  of  any  working  towards 


90  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

definite  ends  in  Nature.  The  whole  matter 
belongs  to  the  region  of  speculation;  and 
speculation  based  on  something  other  than  ob- 
servation and  experiment  has  greatly  retarded 
progress  in  connection  with  the  truest  inter- 
pretation of  the  highest  things.  Eucken 
would  really  agree  here  with  the  physical 
scientist  pure  and  simple  that,  however  far 
back  the  investigations  of  the  physical  world 
are  carried,  the  scientist  does  not  seem  to  come 
to  anything  at  the  furthest  point  which  bears 
more  affinity  to  what  is  mental  than  was  to 
be  discovered  at  the  point  from  which  he  set 
out. 

But  in  History  it  is  different.  We  are  here 
dealing  with  material  which  is  not  in  space, 
and  which  has  not  resulted  through  any  mere 
succession  in  time.  The  material,  in  fact,  is 
timeless,  because  it  is  a  synthesis  of  factors 
which  cannot  be  reckoned  mechanically,  and 
which  requires  a  great  span  of  time  in  order 
to  be  constructed  by  the  spirit  of  man.  At 
this  level  the  spiritual  life  has  gained  a  reality 
which  is  over-personal  as  well  as  personal.  It 
is  true  that  this  over-personal  reality  is  in  the 
mind  of  the  individual ;  but  that  does  not 
mean  that  the  reality  is  no  more  than  a  private 
experience.  Its  content  is  clearly  now  higher 
and  more  significant  than  the  individual's  own 
life.  That  we  cannot  locate  in  space  this  over- 
personal  aspect  of  the  ideal  is  probably  a  dis- 
advantage. But  this  cannot  be  helped ;  and 


RELIGION   AND  PSYCHOLOGY  91 

it  cannot  possibly  be  otherwise,  simply  because 
the  over-personal  reality  is  not  a  spatial  thing. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  the  content  of 
individual  experience,  even  when  it  does  not 
for  the  time  being  hold  before  itself  any  ideal. 
But  such  over-personal  elements  mean  more 
than  was  to  be  found  on  the  level  of  knowing 
the  world.  A  further  development  of  spiritual 
life  has  taken  place ;  and  reality  has  become 
objective  in  its  nature  and  subjective  in  its 
apprehension  and  appropriation  by  the  in- 
dividual. Reality  has,  through  the  over- 
personal  which  has  evolved  in  history,  obtained 
a  cosmic  significance  ;  and  it  is  out  of  this  region 
that  a  Lebensanschauung  as  well  as  a  true 
Weltanschauung  have  developed. 

This  digression  from  the  subject  of  this 
chapter  has  probably  prepared  us  to  see  that 
the  potentiality  of  consciousness  and  the  pre- 
sence of  over-personal  elements  presenting 
themselves  to  consciousness  are  the  two  main 
elements  in  the  construction  of  the  several 
grades  of  reality  which  present  themselves  on 
the  lower  level  of  Nature  and  on  the  higher 
level  of  History. 

But  our  question  now  is,  Does  the  nature  of 
man  himself  confirm  such  statements  as  have 
already  been  made  ?  And  it  is  to  man's  own 
nature  and  its  content  we  now  turn,  as  these 
are  presented  in  Eucken's  teaching. 

It  is  probable  that  Eucken  has  done  less 
justice  to  psychology  from  the  side  of  the 


92  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

connection  of  consciousness  with  the  external 
world.  He  is  aware,  and  points  out  the  fact 
in  several  of  his  books,  of  the  close  connection 
between  mind  and  body ;  but  seems  to  think 
that  the  fact  is  sufficiently  brought  out  by 
text-books  on  psychology  that  some  kind  of 
dualism  or  parallelism  is  absolutely  necessary 
to  be  held  in  order  to  account  for  the  content 
of  consciousness.  What  exact  meaning  and 
province  should  be  assigned  to  psychology 
is  to-day  a  matter  of  serious  dispute.  Text- 
books of  the  nature  of  William  James's  Prin- 
ciples of  Psychology  present  a  double  aspect  of 
the  subject-matter  as  well  as  of  its  mode  of 
treatment.  It  is  often  difficult  to  differentiate 
in  James's  works  where  one  aspect  ends  and 
another  begins.  Psychology  is  presented  by 
him  as  a  natural  science  on  one  page,  and  on 
the  opposite  page  we  discover  ourselves  in  the 
region  of  ethics  and  even  of  metaphysics  and 
religion.  On  the  one  side,  we  find  the  connec- 
tion of  consciousness  and  its  mode  of  operation 
with  the  physical  organism  presented  in  terms 
which  emphasise  the  mechanical  and  chemical 
sides.  On  the  other  side,  the  content  of  con- 
sciousness itself,  after  the  connection  has 
taken  place,  is  presented  as  a  psychology  as 
well.  So  that  several  important  writers  on 
psychology  have  emphasised  the  need  of 
differentiating  one  aspect  from  the  other,  and 
of  confining  the  meaning  of  psychology  to 
the  description  and  explanation  of  the  connec- 


RELIGION  AND   PSYCHOLOGY  93 

tion  of  mind  and  body.1  But  when  we  pass 
to  the  content  of  consciousness,  something  more 
than  a  mere  connection  of  mind  and  body  is 
discovered.  The  content  of  consciousness  in- 
cludes the  Will — the  unrest  of  consciousness 
in  its  actual  situation,  a  dissatisfaction  with 
its  state  of  inertia,  and  a  movement  towards 
some  End.  When  the  Will  operates  with 
the  content  of  consciousness  we  are  in  a  realm 
which  is  beyond  the  physical — a  realm,  too, 
which  is  other  than  a  passive,  descriptive 
attitude  of  a  spectator  of  things.  The  realm  of 
values  has  now  been  reached ;  and  a  content, 
different  in  its  nature  from  any  account  it  is 
able  to  give  of  itself  or  of  its  connection  with 
the  physical,  starts  on  its  own  independent 
course.  The  psychologist  is  "  right  in  insisting 
that  the  atoms  do  not  build  up  the  whole 
universe  of  science.  There  are  contents  in 
consciousness,  sensations  and  perceptions,  feel- 
ings and  impulses,  which  the  scientist  must 
describe  and  explain  too.  But  if  the  psycholo- 
gist is  the  real  natural  scientist  of  the  soul, 
this  whole  interplay  of  ideas  and  emotions  and 
volitions  appears  to  him  as  a  world  of  causally 
connected  processes  which  he  watches  and 
studies  as  a  spectator.  However  rich  the 
manifold  of  the  inner  experience,  everything, 
seen  from  a  strictly  psychological  standpoint, 

1  This  need  of  differentiation  has  been  presented  by 
Miinsterberg  in  a  powerful  manner  in  his  Psychology  and 
Life,  Eternal  Values,  and  Science  and  Idealism. 


94  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

remains  just  as  indifferent  and  valueless  as  the 
movement  of  the  atoms  in  the  outer  experi- 
ence. Pleasures  are  coming  and  going ;  but 
the  onlooking  subject  of  consciousness  has 
simply  to  become  aware  of  them,  and  has  no 
right  to  say  that  they  are  better  or  more 
valuable  than  pain,  or  that  the  emotions  of 
enjoyment  or  the  ideas  of  wisdom  or  the 
impulses  of  virtue  are,  psychologically  con- 
sidered, more  valuable  than  grief  or  vice  or 
foolishness.  In  the  system  of  physical  and 
psychical  objects,  there  is  thus  no  room  for 
any  possible  value  ;  and  even  in  the  thought 
and  idea  of  value  there  is  nothing  but  an 
indifferent  mental  state  produced  by  certain 
brain  excitement.  For  as  soon  as  we  illum- 
inate and  shade  and  colour  the  world  of  the 
scientist  in  reference  to  man's  life  and  death, 
or  to  his  happiness  and  pain,  we  have  care- 
lessly destroyed  the  pure  system  of  science, 
and  given  up  the  presupposition  of  the  strictly 
naturalistic  work."1  Wundt  presents  a  stand- 
point not  quite  so  pronounced,  but  which 
looks  in  the  same  direction.2 

This  fundamental  difference  has  been  recog- 
nised by  Eucken,  and  forms  an  important 
contribution  on  his  part  towards  elucidating 

1  Miinsterberg's  Science  and  Idealism,  p.   10;  cf.  also  his 
Grundmige  der  Psychologic,  Bd.  i.,  1900. 

2  Wundt's     Grundriss   der   Psychologic    and   the    article 
"Psychologic  "  in  Philosophic  im  beginn  des  Zwanzigsten  Jahr- 
hunderts  (Festschrift  fur  Kuno  Fischer,  art.  1). 


RELIGION    AND   PSYCHOLOGY  95 

the  meaning  of  spiritual  life  not  only  in  the 
process  of  knowing  but  in  its  new  beginning 
in  its  creation  of  an  "inner  world  of  values." 
The  content  present  in  the  construction  of  this 
"  new  world  "  is  other  than  a  mental  content 
expressing  connection  of  psychical  and  physical. 
Eucken  differentiates  between  the  two  aspects 
already  referred  to,  and  designates  the  differ- 
ence by  the  terms  Noological  and  Psychological 
Methods.  These  methods  are  most  clearly 
presented  in  The  Truth  of  Religion.  He 
says :  "To  explain  noologically  means  to 
arrange  the  whole  of  spiritual  life  [including 
mental  life]  as  a  special  spiritual  activity,  to 
ascertain  its  position  and  problem,  and  through 
such  an  adaptation  to  illumine  the  whole  and 
raise  its  potencies.  To  explain  psychologically, 
on  the  contrary,  means  to  investigate  how  man 
arrives  at  the  apprehension  and  appropriation 
of  a  spiritual  content  and  especially  of  a  spiritual 
life,  with  what  psychic  aids  is  the  spiritual 
content  worked  out,  how  the  interest  of  man 
for  all  this  is  to  be  raised,  and  how  his  energy 
for  the  enterprise  is  to  be  won.  Here  one  has 
to  proceed  from  an  initial  point  hardly  dis- 
cernible, and  step  by  step,  discover  the  way 
of  ascent ;  thus  the  psychological  method  be- 
comes at  the  same  time  a  psychogenetic  method. 
The  main  condition  is  that  both  methods  be 
held  sufficiently  apart  in  order  that  the  con- 
clusions of  both  may  not  flow  together,  and 
yet  may  form  a  fruitful  completion." 


96  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

"  Such  separation  and  union  of  both  methods 
and  their  corresponding  realities  make  it  possible 
to  understand  how  to  overcome  inwardly  the 
old  antithesis  between  Idealism  and  Realism. 
The  fundamental  truth  of  Idealism  is  that  the 
spiritual  contents  establish  an  independence 
and  self- value  over  against  the  individual,  that 
they  train  him  with  superior  energy,  and  that 
they  are  not  material  for  his  purely  human 
welfare.  In  the  noological  method  this  truth 
obtains  a  full  recognition.  Realism,  however, 
has  its  rights  in  the  forward  sweep  of  the 
specifically  human  side  of  life  with  all  its 
diversions,  its  constraints,  and  its  preponder- 
antly natural  character.  Viewed  from  this 
standpoint,  the  main  fact  is  that  life  is  raised 
out  of  the  idle  calm  of  its  initial  stages,  and 
is  brought  into  a  current;  in  order  to  bring 
this  about,  much  is  urgently  needful  by  man, 
which  cannot  originate,  prior  to  the  appearance 
of  the  spiritual  estimation  of  values,  but  which 
becomes  his  when  he  is  set  in  a  strong  current ; 
then,  on  the  one  hand,  anxiety  for  external 
existence,  division  into  parties,  ambition,  etc., 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  mechanism  of  the 
psychic  life  with  its  association,  reproduction, 
etc.,  are  all  seen  in  a  new  light.  These  motive 
powers  would  certainly  never  produce  a  spiritual 
content  out  of  man's  own  ability ;  such  a  con- 
tent is  only  reachable  if  the  movement  of  life 
raises  man  out  of  and  above  the  initial  per- 
formances and  the  initial  motives.  No  mechan- 


RELIGION  AND   PSYCHOLOGY  97 

ism,  either  of  soul  or  of  society,  is  able  to 
accomplish  this ;  it  can  be  accomplished  alone 
by  an  inward  spirituality  in  man.  Through 
such  a  conception,  Realism  and  Idealism  are 
no  longer  irreconcilable  opponents,  but  two 
sides  of  one  encompassing  life  ;  one  may  grow 
alongside  the  other,  but  not  at  the  expense  of 
the  other.  Indeed,  the  more  the  content  of  the 
spiritual  life  grows,  the  more  becomes  necessary 
on  the  side  of  psychic  existence ;  the  more  we 
submerge  ourselves  in  this  psychic  existence, 
the  greater  appears  the  superiority  of  the 
spiritual  life."1  This  difference  between  no- 
ology  and  psychology  is  pointed  out  by  Eucken 
in  his  delineation  of  spiritual  life  along  the 
whole  course  of  its  development.  The  insist- 
ence on  the  reality  of  life  within  the  region  of 
values,  brought  forth  through  the  activity  of 
the  Will,  is  shown  to  be  absolutely  necessary 
in  order  that  life  may  not  sink  into  the  level 
of  the  mere  physical  object  on  the  one  hand, 
and  into  mere  subjectivity  and  momentary 
changes  of  consciousness  on  the  other  hand. 
It  is  a  decision  at  this  point  which  constitutes 
the  great  turn  to  a  life  of  the  spirit  and  to  the 
granting  to  it  of  a  self-subsistence  as  real  as 
objects  in  the  external  world  ;  it  is  a  turn 
which  includes,  further,  a  new  beginning  of  a 
remove  from  the  content  of  the  moment  and 
from  the  impinging  of  the  environment  upon 
the  subject ;  it  is  a  realisation  by  the  mind  and 

1  The  Truth  of  Religion,  pp.  178/. 

7 


98  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

soul  that  its  own  content  is  now  on  a  path 
which  has  to  be  carved  out,  step  by  step,  by 
its  own  spiritual  potency.     It  is  in  the  light 
of  what  is  attempted  and  accomplished  in  this 
respect  that  the   external   world   and  all  its 
ramifications  into  the  soul  are  in  the  last  resort 
to  be  interpreted.     When  the  foundation  of 
life  is  thus  placed  upon  a  spiritual  content  of 
meaning  and  value,  norm  and  end,  the  first 
impressions   of    things    are    seen    as    nothing 
more  than  preparatory  stages  and  conditions 
to  a  life  beyond  themselves.     To  come  to  a 
decision,  insisted  on  again  and  again,  in  regard 
to    the    reality    of    life    and    its    content    is 
not  possible  without  the  deepest  act  of  the 
whole  of  the  soul.      Such  a  conviction  con- 
cerning the  spiritual  kernel  of  our  being  is 
not  a  mere  matter  either  of  thought  or  feeling 
or  will.     The  three  make  their  contribution 
towards    the    great    affirmation    which    takes 
place,  but  they  are  united  at  a  depth  in  con- 
sciousness which  has  no  psychological  name; 
they  come  to  a  kind  of  focus  within  the  blend- 
ing of  the  over-individual  norms  and  the  need 
and  capacity  of  the  soul  for  such  norms.    When 
this  happens,  the  individual  has  created  a  cleft 
in  his  own  nature  which   renders   it    forever 
impossible  for  him  to  be  satisfied  with  the  mere 
external  aspect  produced  by  the  first  impres- 
sions of  things.     An  inverted  order  of  things 
has  come  about :   the  sensuous  world   is  rele- 
gated to  the  circumference,  and  a  spiritual  world 


RELIGION   AND   PSYCHOLOGY  99 

dawns  within  the  content  of  the  soul.  This  is 
the  deepest  meaning  of  religion ;  and,  as  we 
shall  see  at  a  later  stage,  it  constitutes  the 
very  nucleus  of  Christianity  with  its  announce- 
ment of  conversion,  the  regeneration  of  the 
soul,  and  the  union  and  communion  of  man 
with  the  Divine. 

Doubtless  all  this  is  difficult  of  apprehension, 
mainly  on  account  of  the  fact  that  there  is  no 
proof  for  it  in  a  manner  that  can  be  made 
intelligible.  But  the  question  arises,  What  is 
the  power  that  acts  and  brings  forth  proofs 
concerning  anything  ?  It  is  evidently  not  the 
whole  of  the  potentialities  of  man's  nature : 
it  is  no  more  than  the  understanding  dealing 
with  the  evidence  of  impressions.  But  the 
understanding,  when  dealing  with  the  content 
of  the  union  of  individual  potency  and  over- 
individual  norms,  is  dealing  with  a  content 
infinitely  larger  and  more  complex  than  itself; 
the  material  is  too  great  and  intricate  for  the 
understanding  to  handle ;  it  is  a  fruitless 
attempt  of  the  Part  to  monopolise  the  mean- 
ing and  value  of  the  Whole.  The  proof  rather 
lies  within  the  domain  of  the  soul  itself,  and  is 
not  something  which  may  be  tacked  on  to  any 
kind  of  external,  spatial  existence ;  it  is  the 
emergence  of  a  new  kind  of  existence  or  self- 
subsistence.  The  proof  (if  we  designate  it 
by  such  an  insufficient  term)  is  within  the 
experience  and  not  without ;  it  is  the  spiritual 
experience  itself  and  not  merely  an  account, 


100  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

in  the  form  of  even  valid  logical  concepts, 
concerning  such  experience.1 

The  space  devoted  to  this  subject  may  be 
justified  on  account  of  the  fact  that  Eucken's 
meaning  of  the  evolution  of  spiritual  life 
towards  higher  levels  cannot  be  understood 
without  an  understanding  of  the  distinction 
between  knowledge  about  experience  and  the 
content  of  experience  itself,  as  this  latter  reveals 
itself  in  the  ways  mentioned.2  Eucken  has 
lately  paid  great  attention  to  this  matter  in 
the  new  edition  (1912)  of  Hauptprobleme  der 
Religiomphilosophie  der  Gegenwart,  especially 
in  the  chapter  on  the  "  Philosophy  of  Religion 
and  the  Psychology  of  Religion."3 

The  root  of  the  matter  here  seems  to  be 
the  ready  acknowledgment  of  the  content  of 

1  It  is  a  great  merit  of  Bergson,  too,  to  have  perceived 
this   fundamental    difference.       The    difference    between 
intellect   and   intuition,   in   his   larger  volumes,  is   more 
illuminating  on   the   side    of  intellect.     The    relation    of 
both  is  expressed  by  him  more  clearly  in  his  short  Intro- 
duction to  Metaphysics  (soon  to  appear  in  English). 

2  Troeltsch,  in  his  Psychologic  und  Erkenntnistheorie,  has 
perceived  the  difference  very  clearly,  but  in  a  manner  quite 
different   from   Bergson.       Troeltsch  has    dealt  with   the 
presence  of  the  content  of  the  over-empirical  as  something 
which  is  higher  than  any  psychology  of  the  soul,  and  which 
is  at  the  farthest  remove  from  the  percept. 

3  Richard  Kade,  in  his  new  book,  Rudolf  Euckens  noolo- 
gische  Methode,  points  out  very  clearly  Eucken's  contribu- 
tions on  this  point  from  1885  downwards.     Kade  further 
deals  with  the  later  developments  of  Windelband,  Rickert, 
Troeltsch,  and  Wobbermin  in  the  same  direction. 


RELIGION  AND  PSYCHOLOGY          101 

spiritual  life  as  well  as  of  the  fact  that  it 
possesses  a  higher  grade  of  existence  than  any- 
thing in  the  world  without  or  even  within  the 
psychic  life.  This  is  granting  the  manifesta- 
tion of  spiritual  life  a  foundation  deeper  than 
nature,  culture,  civilisation,  and  even  morality  ; 
for  it  is  the  norms  of  the  over- world  uniting 
with  the  spiritual  nature  of  man  which  have 
brought  forth  all  these.  This  willing  acknow- 
ledgment becomes  ever  necessary,  because 
something  of  two  worlds  is  now  present  in  the 
life  of  the  man.  On  the  one  hand,  the  natural 
world,  with  its  material  elements  and  its  in- 
stincts and  impulses,  is  present  in  the  soul. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  all  these  cannot  be 
torn  away  from  the  life.  They  constitute  a 
great  deal  of  the  vitality  and  the  pleasure  which 
are  the  legitimate  possessions  of  man.  How 
cold  and  soulless  would  life  be  without  these  ! 
But  the  danger  arises  when  there  is  not 
present  a  Standard  sufficiently  high  and 
powerful  to  govern  these,  and  to  make  them 
serve  the  higher  interests  of  the  soul.  In 
other  words,  they  must  be  melted  in  the 
contents  and  values  of  the  over-individual 
ideals  ;  they  must  be  sanctified  to  subserve  the 
higher,  absolute  ends  and  demands  of  the 
spirit.  What  can  we  say,  then,  of  Life  when 
the  natural  assists  the  spiritual  and  when  the 
individual  passes  out  to  the  realm  of  the  over- 
individual  save  that  a  real  point  of  departure 
into  a  new  kind  of  world  has  actually  taken 


103  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

place  ?  Even  this  interpretation  is  insufficient 
to  explain  what  happens,  although  it  happens 
within  ourselves;  far  less,  as  we  have  seen, 
will  any  other  interpretation  which  explains 
life  in  lowest  terms  suffice.  We  are  then,  says 
Eucken,  driven  to  the  conclusion  that  such  a 
state  is  either  the  breaking  forth  of  a  new  kind 
of  reality  or  the  worst  of  all  possible  illusions. 
And  this  great  and  inexorable  Either — Or 
presents  itself  in  every  decision  taken  towards 
what  is  higher  than  the  level  we  are  standing 
on.  The  matter  here  does  not  belong  to  any 
speculative  domain,  and  is  not  the  result  of 
fancy  or  imagination  out  of  which  reason  has 
taken  its  flight.  The  matter  is  concrete- 
tangible  through  and  through.  The  history 
of  mankind  bears  witness  to  the  validity  of 
it ;  the  experience  of  each  individual  in  the 
deepest  moments  of  life  echoes  the  experience 
of  the  race.  The  superiority  of  this  new 
beginning  in  the  over-world  has  to  be  estab- 
lished over  and  over  again  by  each  individual  on 
account  of  the  danger  of  sinking  back  to  a  lower 
level  where  the  main  power  of  spiritual  life  is 
not  in  action.  A  certainty  is  therefore  requisite 
in  the  very  beginning  of  the  enterprise— 
an  enterprise  which  is  absolute  and  eternal. 
No  limits  are  perceptible  to  the  possibilities  of 
spiritual  life  when  the  fullest  conceivable  con- 
tent of  the  soul  is  seated  at  the  centre  of  life, 
and  when  every  outward  is  interpreted  and 
governed  by  an  inward.  This  experience  is 


RELIGION   AND  PSYCHOLOGY         103 

far  removed  from  all  attempts  to  found 
religion  on  speculation  drawn  either  from  the 
physical  world  or  from  the  generalisations  of 
logic.  These  have  their  value — they  point 
to  the  presence  of  some  degree  of  spiritual  life 
when  the  human  mind  has  worked  upon  the 
material  presented  to  it.  But  the  matter  at 
this  highest  level  does  not  deal  with  the 
relations  of  life  but  with  life  itself  in  the  light 
of  an  over- world. 

Eucken  is  nowhere  finer  than  when  he 
detects  the  necessity  for  the  acknowledgment 
of  such  a  spiritual  foundation  of  life.  It  is 
not  a  mere  individual  need,  but  the  union  of 
an  individual  need  with  a  reality  objective  to 
the  need.  If  the  reality  were  already  the 
possession  of  man,  no  such  need  could  arise. 
Still,  the  reality  is  present  in  his  mind  as  an 
idea  and  ideal ;  it  is  present  to  the  individual, 
but  it  is  not  as  yet  the  possession  of  the  in- 
dividual except  in  a  measure  at  the  best.  So 
that  the  certainty  includes  within  itself  a 
realisation  and  a  further  quest.  And  the  very 
nature  of  the  quest  involves  a  struggle  of  the 
whole  nature.  The  certainty  has  gone  so  far 
as  to  show  that  the  highest  good  which  presents 
itself  to  the  soul  is  the  "  one  thing  needful," 
and  is  possible  of  partial  attainment.  When 
all  this  burns  within  the  soul,  something  of  the 
norm  or  ideal  gets  fixed  within  it,  and  the 
individual  starts  to  conquer  more  and  more 
the  new  world  into  which  he  is  now  landed. 


104  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

Often  the  life  is  driven  out  of  its  course  by 
alien  currents ;  a  great  deal  of  what  the  man 
has  now  left  behind  himself  still  clings 
tenaciously  to  the  new  life,  and  the  whole 
soul  becomes  an  arena  often  of  a  terrible  con- 
flict. The  spiritual  life  and  its  content  of  a 
new  reality  may  be  temporarily  beaten  in  this 
warfare ;  but  the  battle  is  finally  won  if  ever 
the  deepest  within  the  soul  has  been  touched 
by  a  conviction  of  the  eternal  value  and  signi- 
ficance of  the  new  life.  The  conquest  is 
followed  by  periods  of  calm  and  fruition. 
Here  the  deeper  energies  gather  themselves 
together  ;  they  grant  a  peace  which  the  world 
cannot  give  and  cannot  take  away ;  they 
create  new  certainties,  new  demands,  and  new 
attempts  for  the  possession  of  a  reality  which 
is  still  higher  in  its  nature  than  anything  that 
previously  revealed  itself. 

Gradually  the  soul  is  forced  more  than  ever 
to  the  conviction  that  the  whole  matter  is  too 
serious  to  be  of  less  than  of  cosmic  significance. 
And  it  is  out  of  this  that  the  idea  of  the  God- 
head arises.  It  is  not  a  speculative  dream 
but  a  conclusion  forced  upon  the  man  by  the 
actual  situation ;  the  material  for  the  con- 
clusion is  not  anything  which  descends  into 
the  soul  with  a  ready-made  content.  Eucken 
states  that  such  a  view  of  revelation  belongs 
to  the  past  history  of  the  race.  It  is  now  no 
less  than  a  revelation  springing  from  the  very 
nature  of  the  soul  at  its  highest  possible  level. 


RELIGION  AND  PSYCHOLOGY         105 

It  occurs  only  when  a  foundation,  a  struggle, 
and  a  conquest  have  been  worked  out  by  the 
soul  in  the  manner  already  depicted.  No 
close  determinations,  as  we  shall  see  later,  are 
made  concerning  the  meaning  and  nature  of 
the  Godhead.  The  man  is  here  at  an  altitude 
so  rare  and  pure  that  it  forbids  any  logical  or 
psychological  analysis.  God  is  not  something 
to  be  explained,  but  to  be  possessed.  When 
the  attempt  is  made  to  explain  Him,  He  is 
very  soon  explained  away ;  when  he  is  pos- 
sessed, He  becomes  not  something  other  than 
was  present  before,  but  more  than  was  present 
before;  a  cosmic  significance  is  given  to  the 
universe  and  to  man's  struggle  to  scale  the 
heights  of  the  over-world  with  all  its  mo- 
mentous values. 

Here,  again,  the  spiritual  life  has  landed  us 
out  of  psychology  into  the  deepest  experiences 
of  religion  and  into  the  consciousness  that  the 
intermediate  realities  which  presented  them- 
selves as  over-individual  norms  and  ideals  are 
realities  of  cosmic  significance.  The  God- 
head is  now  possessed.  As  Jacob  Boehme 
presents  it :  "  From  my  youth  up  I  have 
sought  only  one  thing :  the  salvation  of  my 
soul,  the  means  of  gaining  possession  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God."  Here,  as  Professor 
Boutroux l  points  out,  "  Jacob  Boehme  learnt 
from  the  mystics  what  it  means  to  possess 
God.  One  must  take  care,  so  these  masters 

1  Historical  Studies  in  Philosophy,  1912,  p.  176. 


106  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

teach,  not  to  liken  the  possession  of  God  to 
the  possession  of  anything  material.  God  is 
spirit,  i.e.  for  the  man  who  understands  the 
meaning  of  the  term,  a  generating  power 
previous  to  all  essence,  even  the  divine.  God 
is  spirit,  i.e.  pure  will,  both  infinite  and  free, 
with  the  realisation  of  its  own  personality  as 
its  object.  Henceforward,  God  cannot  be 
accepted  by  any  passive  operation.  We 
possess  Him  only  if  He  is  created  within  us. 
To  possess  God  is  to  live  the  life  of  God." 
This  is  on  lines  precisely  those  of  Eucken,  and 
something  of  this  nature  seems  to  be  gaining 
ground  to-day  in  a  strong  idealistic  school  in 
Germany.  We  may  soon  discover  that  a  true 
mysticism  is  the  flowering  of  the  bud  of 
knowledge ;  that  true  knowledge  constitutes 
a  tributary  which  runs  into  the  ocean  of  the 
Infinite  Love  of  the  Divine  and  becomes  the 
most  precious  possession  of  the  soul.1 

Eucken  touches  on  this  subject  in  an  ex- 
tremely interesting  chapter  in  his  Truth  of 
Religion.  "  This  is  a  question  of  fact,  and  not 
of  argument.  .  .  .  Because  we  convinced  our- 
selves that  things  were  so,  we  gained  the 
standpoint  of  spiritual  experience  over  against 
a  merely  psychological  standpoint.  For  the 

1  Cf.  the  two  remarkable  volumes  of  Baron  von  Hiigel, 
The  Mystical  Elements  of  Religion,  1908,  and  especially 
vol.  ii.  These  books  are  a  mine  of  rich  things,  but  I  have 
not  observed  that  many  in  our  country  have  as  yet 
realised  this  fact. 


RELIGION  AND  PSYCHOLOGY         107 

latter  standpoint  occupies  itself  with  purely 
psychic  processes,  and  in  the  province  of  re- 
ligion especially  it  occupies  itself  with  the 
conditions  of  the  stimulations  of  will  and  feel- 
ing, which  are  not  able  to  prove  anything 
beyond  themselves.  The  spiritual  experience, 
on  the  contrary,  has  to  do  with  life's  contents 
and  with  the  construction  of  reality ;  it  need 
not  trouble  itself  concerning  the  connections 
of  the  world  except  in  a  subsidiary  manner, 
because  it  stands  in  the  midst  of  such  con- 
nections, and  without  these  it  cannot  possibly 
exist.  Man  never  succeeds  in  reaching  the 
Divine  unless  the  Divine  works  and  is  ac- 
knowledged in  his  own  life ;  what  is  omitted 
here  in  the  first  step  is  never  again  recovered 
and  becomes  more  and  more  impossible  as  life 
proceeds  on  its  merely  natural  course.  If, 
however,  the  standpoint  of  spiritual  experience 
is  gained,  then  religion  succeeds  in  attaining 
entire  certainty  and  immediacy;  then  the 
struggles  in  which  it  was  involved  turn  into 
a  similar  result,  and  its  own  inner  movements 
become  a  testimony  to  the  reality  of  the  new 
world  which  it  represents." l 

1  The  Truth  of  Religion,  p.  456. 


CHAPTER   VI 

RELIGION   AND   SOCIETY 

EUCKEN  shows  that  the  problems  of  history 
are  closely  allied  with  those  of  society.  The 
best  accounts  of  the  meaning  he  attaches  to 
human  society  are  to  be  found  in  The  Main 
Currents  of  Modern  Thought,  Der  Kampf  urn 
einen  geistigen  Lebensinhalt,  and  Life  Basis 
and  Life  Ideal.  The  conclusions  reached  in 
these  three  books  are  the  same — they  are  an 
insistence  on  the  need  of  spiritual  life  as  a 
creative  power  in  the  utilisation  of  norms  and 
ideals  as  well  as  in  the  creation  of  further 
norms  and  ideals.  He  points  out  the  devious 
paths  which  human  society  has  travelled  over : 
all  these,  in  the  case  of  society  and  of  the 
individual,  are  shown  to  lead  to  disaster  when 
they  depend  merely  upon  the  environment  or 
upon  the  ideals  of  a  utilitarian  mode  of  a 
a  historico-social  construction. 

Society  has  gained  much  through  the 
necessity  of  emphasising  some  aspects  of  a 
Whole — of  thinking  and  acting  collectively — 

1 08 


RELIGION  AND  SOCIETY  109 

instead  of  emphasising  merely  the  Parts.  The 
history  of  human  society,  in  a  very  large 
measure,  is  the  history  of  shifting  the  centre 
of  gravity  of  life  alternately  from  the  Whole  to 
the  Parts  and  vice  versa.  When  the  centre 
of  gravity  remains  in  some  kind  of  Whole,  a 
number  of  individuals  move  towards  the  same 
goal,  and  much  that  is  subjective  has  to  be 
shifted  to  the  background  of  life.  Now,  this 
is  a  gain,  and  it  is  the  only  path  on  which  a 
corporate  life  becomes  possible.  Men  (and 
women  too)  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder  when 
some  kind  of  Whole  or  Ideal  seems  to  them  to 
be  a  necessity  of  their  nature.  But  progress 
is  brought  about  not  only  through  cementing 
human  beings  together  in  order  to  move 
towards  any  kind  of  ideal.  The  energy  is  in  the 
right  place,  but  the  question  has  to  arise  as  to 
the  nature  of  the  over-personal  ideal  itself. 
All  over-personal  ideals  cannot  connote  the 
good  of  all,  but  the  good  of  all  must  be 
present  as  possessing  a  validity  of  its  own 
before  any  lower  over-personal  ideal  can 
prevent  landing  men  in  disaster.  The  over- 
personal  ideals  which  do  not  include  the  good 
of  all  often  represent  the  good  of  a  section 
alone,  and  all  other  sections  have  to  become 
convinced  that  this  is  a  good.  Thus  many 
Life-systems  present  themselves.  Each  of 
these  includes  a  good.  The  problem  is,  How 
is  each  section  to  realise  that  there  is  a  good 
present  in  what  each  other  section  presents  ? 


110  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

There  must  be  some  common  standard  by 
which  the  ideal  of  each  section  of  the  com- 
munity can  be  measured,  for  it  is  in  the  light 
of  such  a  standard  alone  that  the  lower  good 
receives  its  true  place,  meaning,  and  value. 
There  are,  beyond  all  sectional  over-personal 
ideals,  values  which  connote  the  highest 
welfare  of  everyone  "who  carries  a  human 
face."  These  values  are  the  results  of  the 
partially  collective  experiences  of  the  deepest  in 
life,  and  have  been  gained  in  the  history  of  the 
race.  They  are  the  values  which  are  the  needs 
and  rights  of  all.  Justice,  Sympathy,  Love — 
these  and  others  are  the  highest  syntheses. 
They  have,  as  yet,  been  only  partially  reached  ; 
and  this  partial  realisation  is  the  possession  of 
a  few,  and  has  not  yet  succeeded  in  becoming 
the  necessary  standard  which  shall  pass  judg- 
ment on  all  lower  ideals.  "  Rights  are  rights," 
we  are  told.  This  may  be  true,  but  something 
higher  has  to  interpret  them,  or  else  one  set 
of  rights  comes  into  conflict  with  other  sets 
and  stands  but  little  chance  of  realisation. 
And  even  if  realised,  a  whole  series  of  com- 
plexities immediately  arises.  This  has  been, 
in  the  main,  the  history  of  human  society. 
And  are  we  able  to  say  that  society  has 
progressed  much  during  the  past  century  in 
this  direction  of  illuminating  lower  needs  in 
the  light  of  higher  ones  which  include  the 
good  of  all  ?  Eucken  doubts  whether  the 
progress  has  been  great.  And  here  once  more, 


RELIGION   AND   SOCIETY  111 

in  connection  with  the  deepest  meaning  of 
society  and  the  individual,  he  sees  the  need  of 
ideals  which  are  universally  true  and  univers- 
ally valid.  This  means  that  the  spiritual  life 
as  it  presents  itself  in  the  universally  true, 
good,  and  beautiful,  must  become  the  sun 
which  will  shine  upon  all  that  is  below  it ;  it  is 
the  Whole  in  which  the  Parts  must  find  their 
function  and  meaning.  If  the  life  of  society 
relates  itself  to  anything  lower  than  this,  the 
best  within  it  cannot  come  to  flower  and  fruit. 
In  other  words,  society  will  have  to  return  to 
a  conception  and  utilisation  of  an  absolute 
spiritual  life  before  it  can  gain  any  new  terri- 
tory of  eternal  value.  Probably  quite  as  much 
attention  will  have  to  be  devoted  to  the  Parts 
—to  the  environment,  the  needs  of  the  hour, 
the  material  comforts  and  happiness  of  life. 
But  granting  that  the  possession  of  all  these 
will  come  about,  what  then?  We  are  still 
wretchedly  poor  in  the  "  inward  parts."  What 
we  have  won  has  not  within  itself  sufficient 
spirituality  to  touch  the  deepest  recesses  of 
the  soul.  Material  plenty  and  pleasure  are  a 
good  when  they  are  used  as  they  ought  to  be 
used.  Where  is  that  "something"  that 
teaches  us  this  ?  Where  is  the  Ought  ?  The 
Ought  is  something  outside  and  infinitely 
higher  than  all  the  gains  which  the  environ- 
ment or  the  group  is  ever  able  to  bring  forth. 
"  Life,"  says  Eucken,1  "  cannot  be  made  simply 

1  Main  Currents  of  Modern  Thought,  p.  353. 


EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

a  question  of  relationship  to  environment  and 
of  the  development  of  mutual  relationships  (as 
this  tendency  would  have  it)  without  the 
independence  of  the  isolated  factor  [spiritual 
life]  being  most  seriously  reduced.  And  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  individual  is 
the  sole  source  of  original  spiritual  life ; 
corporate  social  life  can  do  no  more  than  unite 
and  utilise.  The  maintenance  of  the  strength 
and  freedom  of  this  original  life  would  be  less 
important,  and  its  limitation  would  be  more 
easily  endurable,  if  human  life  stood  upon  a 
firm  foundation  and  needed  only  to  follow 
quietly  in  a  naturally  appointed  direction.  In 
reality,  life  is  not  only  full  of  separate 
problems,  but  being  situated  (as  it  is)  between 
the  realm  of  mere  Nature  and  the  spiritual 
world,  must  begin  by  systematically  direct- 
ing itself  aright  and  ascending  from  the 
semi-spiritual  to  the  truly  spiritual  construc- 
tion of  life.  It  is  hence  called  upon  to 
perform  great  tasks,  which  cannot  be  carried 
out  without  serious  efforts  and  the  mobilisation 
of  all  our  spiritual  forces.  This  necessarily 
leads  us  back  to  the  original  sources  of 
strength,  and  hence  to  the  individual." 

This  passage  represents  well  Eucken's  main 
teaching  in  regard  to  our  social  problems. 
We  shall  ever  fail  in  the  highest  sense  if  the 
spiritual  content  of  life  is  no  more  than  a 
means  to  reach  material  ends,  however 
necessary  such  ends  may  be.  For  in  such  a 


RELIGION  AND  SOCIETY  113 

manner  spiritual  life — the  universally  true  and 
valid — is  reduced  to  a  lower  plane  ;  it  becomes 
entangled  in  lower  stages,  and  thus  ceases  to 
be  a  "  light  on  the  hill "  illumining  the  steep 
upward  path.  Convictions  of  a  spiritual 
nature — the  very  forces  which  have  moulded 
society — are  absent  from  such  a  system  of  life 
which  has  no  more  than  the  day  or  the  hour 
to  look  forward  to.  Individual  and  society 
become  the  creatures  of  mere  impulses  and 
passions,  stimulated  to  activity  by  a  "dead- 
level  "  environment.  Something  of  value  is 
gained  when  even  this  kind  of  environment  is 
a  good ;  but  the  response  is  quite  as  readily 
given  to  that  which  is  injurious,  simply 
because  the  "  universally  true  and  good "  is 
absent  as  an  inwardness  and  conviction  in  the 
soul. 

Without  such  an  inwardness  and  its  content 
the  deeper  energy  of  life  is  not  touched,  and 
men  drift  with  the  tide  of  the  environment. 
Without  the  ideals  or  syntheses  which  are, 
in  their  very  nature,  universal  and  absolute, 
progress  comes  to  a  standstill,  and  degeneration 
soon  sets  in.  The  ordinary  situation,  apart 
from  the  presence  of  the  content  of  the  over- 
world  within  the  life  of  the  soul,  swings  like  a 
pendulum  between  a  shallow  optimism  and  a 
blind  pessimism.  There  is  no  power  present 
in  the  soul  to  come  to  any  fundamental 
decision,  but  life  drifts  on  a  river  between  Yea 
and  Nay;  a  failure  to  penetrate  beneath  the 

8 


114  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

crust  of  chance  and  circumstance  becomes 
evident,  and  the  deeper  values  and  meanings 
of  life  disappear. 

Eucken's  only  solution  for  our  present-day 
troubles  is  a  return  to  our  own  deeper  nature 
as  this  was  depicted  in  previous  chapters. 
The  signs  of  the  times,  he  tells  us,  are 
encouraging ;  the  utilitarian  mode  of  life  is 
wearing  itself  out ;  the  tastes  of  material 
comforts  have  been  with  us  long  enough  to 
experience  the  poverty  of  their  quality ;  and 
the  mad  gamble  for  the  "  things  which  perish  " 
is  gradually  weeding  out  its  devotees. 
Eucken's  solution  to  the  problems  of  society 
is  a  religious  one.  Where  is  the  conception 
of  religion  as  the  solution  of  the  momentous 
and  intricate  problems  of  our  day  to  be  found 
in  the  teachings  and  writings  of  our  economists? 
It  is  not  to  be  found.  These  deal  either 
with  petty  details  or  with  laws  which  have  no 
spiritual  content  whatever  in  them.  Society 
may  proceed  with  various  Life-  systems  - 
individualism,  socialism,  or  any  other,  but 
until  it  gets  into  touch  with  its  deepest  soul, 
each  such  system  of  life  is  hastening  towards 
its  own  destruction  and  towards  the  injury  of 
progress. 

The  conception  of  the  State  is  presented  by 
Eucken  in  a  similar  manner.  He  points  out 
how  we  stop  short  in  our  politics  of  dealing 
with  the  universally  true  and  good.  Party 
strives  against  party,  and  nation  against  nation. 


RELIGION   AND   SOCIETY  115 

Groups  of  all  hues  and  cries  propound  their 
own  particular  ideals  as  the  all-important  ones. 
Higher  ideals  are  left  out  of  account,  so  that 
we  find  the  world  to-day  spending  its  energies 
in  warfare  concerning  many  things  of  minor 
importance.  How  can  we  expect  fruition  and 
bliss  to  follow  on  such  lines  ? 

Eucken  presents  in  a  convincing  manner  the 
danger  of  resting  upon  the  external  in  Society 
and  State.  "  We  are  experiencing  to-day  a 
remarkable  entanglement.  The  older  forms 
of  Life,  which  had  hitherto  governed  history 
and  its  meaning,  have  become  too  narrow, 
petty,  and  subjective  for  human  nature. 
Through  emancipation  from  an  easy-going 
subjectivity  and  through  the  positing  of  life 
upon  external  things  and,  indeed,  upon  the 
whole  of  the  great  universe,  Life,  it  was 
believed,  would  gain  more  breadth  and  truth  ; 
and  in  a  noteworthy  manner  man  undertook 
a  struggle  against  the  pettiness  of  his  own 
nature  and  for  the  drawing  out  of  all  that  was 
merely  human  and  trivial.  A  great  deal  has 
been  gained  through  such  a  change  and  new 
tendency  of  life.  In  fact  we  have  discovered 
far  more  than  we  had  hoped  for.  But,  at  the 
same  time,  we  have  lost  something — a  loss 
which  at  the  outset  occasions  no  anxiety,  but 
which,  however,  through  painful  experience, 
proves  itself  to  have  been  the  *  one  thing 
needful/  Through  its  own  development  the 
work  has  destroyed  its  own  vehicles ;  it  has 


116  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

undermined  the  very  ground  upon  which  it 
stood  ;  it  has  failed,  notwithstanding  its  infinite 
expansion,  through  its  loss  of  a  fundamental 
and  unifying  Life-process ;  and  in  the  entire 
immersion  of  man  into  activity  his  deepest 
being  has  been  sacrificed.  Indeed,  the  more 
exclusively  Life  transforms  itself  into  external 
work,  the  more  it  ceases  to  be  an  inner 
personal  experience,  and  the  more  alien  we 
become  to  ourselves.  And  yet  the  fact  that 
we  can  be  conscious  of  such  an  alienation — an 
alienation  that  we  cannot  accept  indifferently 

—is  a  proof  that  more  is  firmly  implanted  in 
us  than  the  modern  direction  of  life  is  able  to 
develop  and  satisfy.  We  acknowledge  simul- 
taneously that  we  have  gained  much,  but  that 
the  loss  is  a  painful  one.  We  have  gained  the 
world,  but  we  have  lost  the  soul ;  and,  along 
with  this,  the  world  threatens  to  bring  us  to 
nought,  and  to  take  away  our  one  secure 
foothold  in  the  midst  of  the  roaring  torrent  of 
material  work."1 

Eucken  shows  that  the  individual  will  obtain 
his  true  place  in  Society  and  the  State  only 
when  spiritual  ideals  have  become  fixed  norms 

—norms  which  form  the  highest  synthesis  to 
be  conceived  of.  And  Society  and  the  State 
will  discover  their  vocations  in  precisely  the 
same  manner.  It  is  impossible  to  shut  our 
eyes  to  the  fact  that  things  are  not  well  with 
the  world  to-day.  The  growth  of  the  material 

1   The  Truth  of  Religion,  p.  59- 


RELIGION  AND  SOCIETY  117 

interests  of  the  world  and  of  life  has  become  a 
menace  on  a  scale  unknown  in  the  previous 
history  of  civilisation.  There  is  only  one 
refuge  in  the  midst  of  all  this  welter  and 
chaos.  That  indestructible  refuge  is  "an 
inner  synthesis  and  spiritual  elevation  of  life." 
It  is  this  alone  which  can  prevent  the  dis- 
integration that  is  bound  to  follow  in  its 
absence.  The  petty  human  element  cannot 
be  eliminated  from  this ;  and  the  mere  life  of 
the  hour — the  life  that  has  no  substance  of 
duration  within  itself— cannot  be  stopped  on 
its  reckless  career  without  the  presence  of 
spiritual  ideals  within  and  without.  If  the 
world  proceeds  in  its  denial  of  the  reality  and 
need  of  spiritual  life  and  its  over-world,  the 
negation,  when  it  reaches  its  climax  of  disaster 
and  despair,  will  "turn  again  home"-— to  the 
necessity  of  spiritual  values — and  out  of  the 
ruins  a  new  humanity  will  emerge. 

Thus,  once  more  we  are  landed  into  the 
province  of  a  religion  of  spiritual  life  as  a 
necessity  in  the  affairs  of  the  world  and  of  the 
State.  Eucken's  great  plea  is  that  the  civilised 
nations  of  the  world  should  become  aware  of 
all  this  before  it  is  too  late  to  turn  back — before 
the  boat  has  reached  too  near  the  rapids  to 
avoid  disaster.  The  remedy  is  in  our  own 
hands.  How  to  create  the  consciousness  of 
the  situation  is  the  problem  of  problems,  and 
all  individuals  are  called  to  bring  the  whole  of 
their  energies  to  its  solution. 


118  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

It  is  evident  that  some  kind  of  uneasiness 
has  to  take  place  in  the  deepest  recess  of  the 
human  soul,  but  the  best  ways  and  means  of 
doing  this  are  not  yet  quite  evident.1  We 
know  what  we  need  and  what  prevents  decad- 
ence of  individuals  and  nations.  "  If  ye  know 
these  things,  blessed  are  ye  if  ye  do  them" 
(Gospel  of  John).  The  bridge  between  a 
knowledge  of  the  Ought  and  its  possession  is 
difficult  to  construct,  but  its  importance  is 
necessary  to  be  brought  constantly  before  the 
people.  The  majority  of  the  people  have 
thought  fit  to  leave  almost  the  only  place 
where  such  an  obligation  was  presented — i.e. 
the  Christian  Church.  Until  they  return,  or 
some  other  institution  higher  than  the  Church 
is  brought  into  existence,  the  peril  will  remain. 
No  individual  conviction,  based  on  anything 
less  than  spiritual  ideals,  will  suffice.  What 
we  are  looking  for  is  in  our  midst ;  it  is  and 
has  been  from  the  very  beginning,  in  spite  of 
an  "  existential  form,"  largely  archaic,  present 
in  the  spiritual  nucleus  of  the  Christian  religion. 

1  Cf.  Decadence^  Henry  Sidgwick  Memorial  Lecture, 
by  the  Rt.  Hon.  Arthur  James  Balfour,  M.P.,  1908.  Mr 
Balfour  has  perceived  the  problem  in  a  more  optimistic 
manner  than  Professor  Eucken ;  but  he,  too,  is  conscious 
that  much  is  required  of  the  people.  "  Some  kind  of  wide- 
spread exhilaration  or  excitement  is  required  in  order  to 
enable  any  community  to  extract  the  best  results  from  the 
raw  material  transmitted  to  it  by  natural  inheritance " 
(p.  62). 


CHAPTER  VII 

RELIGION    AND    ART 

EUCKEN  has  written  less  on  this  subject  than 
on  any  of  those  which  constitute  the  head- 
ings of  the  chapters  of  this  book.  But  he 
has  treated  art  in  precisely  the  same  manner 
as  he  has  treated  all  other  important  problems  : 
he  has  shown  that  no  great  art  is  possible 
unless  it  is  rooted  in  a  creativeness  which  is 
spiritual.  In  his  Main  Currents  of  Modern 
Thought  we  get  an  instructive  account  of  art 
and  its  relation  to  morality.  His  account  of 
the  development  of  art  in  modern  times,  from 
the  Renaissance  to  the  present  day,  shows  the 
ebb  and  flow  of  the  conception  of  the  Beautiful. 
The  check  which  the  Renaissance  received 
through  the  Reformation  in  relation  to  art 
had  its  good  as  well  as  its  evil  side.  Intense 
scorn  arose  in  the  Protestant  world  for  every 
kind  of  image  and  decoration,  because  these 
were  supposed  to  posit  life  on  what  was 
purely  sensuous  and  natural,  and  so  bar  the 
way  to  the  Divine.  Still,  the  obstruction 

119 


120  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

created  by  Protestantism  in  this  direction 
opened  a  door  in  quite  another  direction.  Art 
of  a  higher  kind  than  picture  or  statue  arose, 
which  was  far  removed  from  the  sensuous  level 
and  which  emerged  from  a  deeper  soil  within 
the  soul.  The  whole  series  of  musical  com- 
posers produced  by  Germany  is  a  proof  of  this. 
The  period  of  the  Aufkldrung  viewed  art  with 
scant  favour,  but  with  the  rise  of  the  New 
Humanism  a  change  in  favour  of  art  took 
place. 

The  origin  of  this  change  is  to  be  found 
where  one  might  least  expect  it — in  the  soul 
of  the  sage  of  Konigsberg.  Kant's  Critique  of 
Judgment  is  unanimously  allowed  to  be  the 
greatest  book  ever  produced  on  the  subject. 
Goethe  and  Schiller  were  influenced  by  it— 
the  latter  in  a  remarkable  manner.  We  find 
in  these  writers  an  effort  to  unite  the  Good  and 
the  Beautiful.  It  is  impossible  to  read  the 
poetry  of  Goethe  without  finding  that  great 
moral  problems  are  imbedded  in  his  concep- 
tions of  the  Beautiful.  His  poetry  is  an 
attempt  to  bridge  the  chasm  between  the 
external  world  and  the  soul.  His  nature  was 
too  deep  to  remain  satisfied  with  the  mere 
impressions  of  the  senses.  The  union  of  the 
world  without  with  the  world  within  gave  him 
a  view  of  the  universe  and  of  human  life  full 
of  originality  and  suggest! veness. 

Schiller    worked    in    practically   the    same 
direction.     A  moral  standpoint  of  a  high  order 


RELIGION   AND  ART  121 

is  to  be  discovered  in  his  writings,  and  he  be- 
lieved this  standard  to  be  possible  of  preserva- 
tion alongside  of  a  legitimate  "  freedom  granted 
in  the  phenomenon."  "  Then  the  two  tenden- 
cies again  became  divided.  Romanticism  gave 
a  peculiar  definite  and  self-conscious  expression 
to  the  priority  of  art  and  the  sesthetical  view 
of  life,  while  Fichte  and  the  other  leaders  of 
the  national  movement  exerted  a  powerful  in- 
fluence in  the  direction  of  strengthening 
morality.  The  social  and  industrial  type  of 
civilisation,  which  became  more  and  more 
powerful  during  the  course  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  was  inclined,  with  its  tendency  to- 
wards social  welfare  and  utility,  to  assign  a 
subordinate  part  to  art.  Modern  art  arises 
in  protest  against  this  and  is  ambitious  to 
influence  the  whole  of  life ;  in  opposition  to 
morality  it  holds  up  an  aesthetic  view  of  life  as 
being  alone  justifiable.  Hence  at  the  present 
time  the  two  spheres  stand  wide  apart."  l 

Eucken  shows  how  such  an  antithesis  be- 
tween morality  and  art  has  partially  existed  for 
thousands  of  years.  But  whenever  a  cleavage 
takes  place  both  morality  and  art  suffer.  On 
the  one  hand,  morality  tends  to  become  a 
system  of  rules  for  the  performance  of  which 
a  reward  is  promised  either  in  this  world  or  in 
the  world  to  come.  On  the  other  hand,  art 
is  stripped  of  the  distinction  between  the 
values  of  sensuous  things  as  these  express 

1  Main  Currents  of  Modern  Thought,  p.  398. 


EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

themselves  in  their  relation  to  human  life.  In 
the  former  case,  insistence  on  morality  (even 
on  morality  alone)  has  deepened  human  life ; 
it  has  given  it  a  more  strenuous  tone ;  and  it 
has  created  a  scale  of  values  which  alters  the 
whole  meaning  of  life.  But  morality  conceived 
as  a  system  of  regulations  and  laws  has  always 
the  tendency  to  harden  and  narrow  the  life, 
and  to  posit  the  individual  too  much  upon 
himself.  Any  justification  from  without — 
from  the  physical  side — consequently  fails  to 
give  any  help  or  satisfaction.  And  man  needs 
this  help.  As  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  fly 
out  of  the  world  to  some  region  where  mind  or 
spirit  alone  reigns,  he  has  to  do  the  best  he  can 
with  the  physical  world  in  the  midst  of  which 
he  exists.  It  is  within  such  a  world  that  he 
has  to  cultivate  the  spiritual  potencies  of  his  own 
being.  It  is  true  that  the  spiritual  potencies 
of  his  own  being  are  higher  and  of  more  value 
than  anything  in  Nature.  Still,  that  does  not 
mean  that  Nature  has  to  be  discarded  or  con- 
demned before  the  potencies  of  his  own  being 
can  develop.  Nature  is  not  a  mere  blind 
machine ;  it  has  produced  all — including  man 
and  his  potencies — that  is  to  be  found  on  the 
face  of  it.  It  is  therefore  not  entirely  meaning- 
less, and  the  meaning  it  possesses  is  a  necessary 
element  in  the  evolution  of  personal  spiritual  life. 
Man  must  enter  into  some  relation  with  Nature. 
But  such  a  relation  produces  even  more  than 
all  this.  When  viewed  in  a  friendly  mood, 


RELIGION   AND   ART 

Nature  herself  wears  an  aspect  higher  than  a 
materialistic  or  intellectual  one.  It  calls  forth 
the  best  in  imagination ;  it  enables  us  to  feel 
that  something  of  the  power  that  dwells  within 
the  soul  dwells  also  in  all  the  manifestations 
of  phenomena.1  This  fact  is  evident  in  all  the 
poetry  of  the  world,  and  without  the  perpetual 
presence  of  Nature  to  the  soul  in  the  form  of 
wonder,  reverence,  and  admiration,  no  poetry 
worthy  of  the  name  is  possible.  Nature  thus 
is  of  value  in  the  fact  that  when  its  phenomena 
present  themselves  to  a  consciousness  aware 
not  only  of  its  knowing  aspect  but  also  of  its 
feeling  aspect,  the  union  of  Nature  and  soul 
produces  a  feeling  of  reality  which  creates  an 
ideal  nature.  "The  light  that  never  was  on 
sea  or  land  "  becomes  now  on  sea  and  land  ;  it 
illuminates  the  whole  scene  with  a  "  halo  and 
glory  "  which  was  concealed  before.  But  there 
must  be  present  "  an  eye  of  the  soul "  united 
with  the  physical  impressions  before  all  this  is 
possible.  Indeed,  the  effect  of  all  this  is  noth- 
ing less  than  an  ideal  creation  of  a  world  con- 
sisting of  Nature  and  the  spiritual  potencies 
of  man.  It  is  evident  that  if  the  internal 

1  This  aspect  has  been  developed  in  modern  times  by 
Schopenhauer,  Ed.  von  Hartmann,  and  others.  Bergson 
seems  to  me  to  be  greatly  indebted  to  Schopenhauer. 
Schopenhauer's  Will  and  Bergson's  elan  vital  are  practically 
the  same  (cf.  Schopenhauer's  Vber  den  Willen  in  der  Natur, 
and  Bergson's  Creative  Evolution).  Edward  Carpenter,  in 
his  Art  of  Creation,  has  worked  out  a  similar  point  of  view 
independently  of  Bergson. 


EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

factor,  which  represents  itself  in  the  form  of 
morality  or  value,  is  absent,  the  picture  of 
Nature  is  quite  different.  And  this  is  Eucken's 
complaint  in  regard  to  much  of  the  art  of  the 
present  day :  the  internal  factor  is  absent. 
Seriousness  is  not  blended  with  freedom  in  it ; 
or,  in  other  words,  the  inward  has  no  power  to 
pass  its  quality  into  the  outward.  But  when 
the  inward  is  present  in  the  form  of  morality 
or  value,  then  art  becomes  joyous,  serious, 
helpful,  and  disinterested.  This  last  aspect 
of  the  disinterestedness  of  art  was  perceived 
clearly  by  Kant,  and  has  formed  an  important 
contribution  to  the  philosophy  and  even  to 
the  religion  of  the  nineteenth  century.  When 
a  potency  of  the  soul,  gained  in  a  province  out- 
side art  (as  is  the  case  with  morality  or  value), 
operates,  there  is  no  danger  of  art  degenerat- 
ing into  mere  subjectivism  ;  otherwise  there  is 
a  very  grave  danger.  Loosened  from  morality 
it  becomes  a  mere  play  of  decoration  and  fancy 
—a  mere  superficial  embroidery  of  an  empty 
life ;  it  can  look  on  the  human  world  and  all 
its  struggles  with  an  indifferent  and  often 
cynical  mood.  Why  has  all  this  happened  ? 
Because  the  inward  factor  of  the  "  strenuous 
mood"  has  been  replaced  by  a  sentimental 
factor  based  on  nothing  deeper  than  the  satis- 
faction of  the  senses ;  and  the  result  of  this 
is  found  in  feelings  which  are  more  psychical 
than  spiritual  in  their  nature. 

But  that  art  is  necessary  for  any  completion 


RELIGION   AND  ART  125 

of  life  is  seen  by  the  fact  that  its  contribution 
to  the  soul  is  more  than  a  thought  contribution. 
For  the  deeper  life  of  the  spirit  of  man  is  more 
than  thought,  although  thought  forms  an  es- 
sential element  of  it ;  this  deeper  life  has  wider 
demands  than  can  be  expressed  in  the  form  of 
logical  propositions.  Eucken  shows  how  true 
art  is  therefore  indissolubly  connected  with 
spiritual  life.  "  Without  the  presence  of  a 
spiritual  world  [the  resultant  of  the  union  of 
the  spiritual  potencies  and  external  objects],  art 
has  no  soul  and  no  secure  fundamental  relation- 
ship to  reality,  and  in  no  way  can  it  develop  a 
fixed  style.  We  hear  to-day  of  a  *  new  style/ 
and  are  in  the  saddle  after  such  a  conception. 
But  shall  we  find  it  so  long  as  the  whole  of 
life  does  not  fasten  itself  upon  simple  funda- 
mental lines  and  does  not  follow  the  main  path 
in  the  midst  of  all  the  tangle  of  effort  ?  How 
is  it  possible  to  attain  to  a  unity  of  interpreta- 
tion where  our  life  itself  fails  in  the  possession 
of  a  governing  unity  ?  We  discover  ourselves 
in  the  midst  of  the  most  fundamental  trans- 
formations of  life ;  old  ideals  are  vanishing,  and 
new  ones  are  dawning  on  the  horizon.  But  as 
yet  they  are  all  full  of  unrest  and  unreadiness  ; 
and  the  situation  of  man  in  the  All  of  things  is 
so  full  of  uncertainty  that  he  has  to  struggle 
anew  for  the  meaning  and  value  of  his  life.  If 
art  has  nothing  to  say  to  him  and  no  help  to 
offer — if  it  relegates  these  questions  far  from 
itself — then  art  itself  must  sink  to  the  level  of  a 


126  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

subsidiary  play  the  more  these  problems  win  the 
mind  and  spirit  of  man.  But  if  art  is  capable 
of  bringing  a  furtherance  of  values  to  man  in 
his  needs  and  sorrows,  it  will  have  to  recognise 
and  acknowledge  the  problems  of  spiritual  life 
as  well  as  participate  in  the  struggle  for  the 
vindication  and  formation  of  a  spiritual  world. 
When  art  does  this,  these  questions  which 
engage  our  attention  are  also  its  questions."1 

In  spite  of  the  contradictions  of  life,  in  spite 
of  much  which  seems  indifferent  to  human 
weal  and  woe  within  the  physical  universe,  the 
contradictions  may  be  surmounted  by  the  union 
of  man's  spirit  with  other  aspects  of  existence 
which  look  in  an  opposite  direction.  The 
ideal  world  of  art  is  not  to  be  discovered  by 
ignoring  these  contradictions,  but  by  acknow- 
ledging them  to  the  full,  and  by  seeing  that 
Nature  is  supplemented  by  man  and  his  soul. 
Such  a  union,  as  has  already  been  pointed  out, 
will  create  an  earnestness  and  joyousness  of 
life ;  it  will  enable  man,  when  any  teleology  of 
Nature  herself  fails  to  give  him  satisfaction,  to 
realise  a  teleology  within  the  substance  of  his 
own  life — spiritual  in  its  essence,  infinite  in  its 
duration,  and  the  flowering  of  a  bud  which  has 
grown  with  the  help  of  the  natural  cosmos. 
When  Nature  is  thus  viewed  as  a  preparatory 
stage  for  spirit,  it  will  wear  an  aspect  very 
different  from  the  mechanical  one.  Its  real  tele- 

1  Der   Kampf  urn    einen    geistigen    Lebensinhalt,   Zweite 
Auflage,  1907,S.  331. 


RELIGION  AND  ART  127 

ology  will  be  seen :  there  can  be  no  dispute  about 
it ;  it  has  actually  produced  man,  and  man  has 
now  to  carry  farther  the  evolutionary  process. 
Eucken  has  presented  this  aspect  in  a  fine 
manner  in  his  article  on  Schiller  in  Kantstudien1 
(Band  X.,  Heft  3),  Festschrift  zu  Schillers 
hundertstem  Todestage.  No  one  in  modern 
times  discovered  the  contradictions  of  the 
world  in  regard  to  the  needs  of  man  more  than 
Schiller.  And  yet  no  one  led  a  more  joyous 
life  than  this  "half-poet,  half-thinker."  Pressed 
from  within  and  without  by  many  alien  ele- 
ments, he  overcame  them  all  and  found,  despite 
his  physical  weakness,  what  a  gift  life  is.  It  is 
in  the  direction  of  a  great  synthesis  of  spiritual 
life  and  natural  phenomena  that  true  art  will 
discover  the  qualities  for  a  permanent  duration. 
Such  a  synthesis  will  enrich  the  spiritual  life, 
and  will  grant  it  something  of  higher  con- 
struction concerning  the  meaning  and  value  of 
the  union  of  Nature  and  Man.  So  Eucken 
has  once  more  landed  us  into  the  spiritual  life 
as  the  source  and  goal  of  all  true  Art. 

"  Only  the  rooted  knowledge  to  high  sense 
Of  heavenly  can  mount,  and  feel  the  spur 
For  fruitfullest  achievement,  eye  a  mark 

Beyond  the  path  with  grain  on  either  hand, 
Help  to  the  steering  of  our  social  Ark 

Over  the  barbarous  waters  unto  land."  2 


1  Sonderdruck,  1905. 

2  George  Meredith,  The  Sage  Enamoured  and  the  Honest 
Lady. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

UNIVERSAL    RELIGION 

WE  have  followed  Eucken's  system  develop- 
ing step  by  step  from  the  stage  of  knowing  the 
world  up  through  the  evolution  of  spiritual 
life  in  history,  in  the  soul,  in  art,  and  in  society. 
Everywhere  the  investigation  has  revealed  a 
progressive  autonomy  and  duration  of  spiritual 
life  in  the  midst  of  all  the  kaleidoscopic  aspects 
of  the  objects  which  presented  themselves  to 
consciousness.  Something  spiritual  has  per- 
sisted and  evolved  in  the  midst  of  all  the 
changes,  and  the  changes  have  been  utilised 
by  this  deeper  potency  of  the  soul.  Through 
the  evolution  of  this  spiritual  potency  changes 
have  been  brought  about  in  the  external  world, 
in  human  society,  and  in  the  individual  soul. 
This  spiritual  potency  has  bent  things  to 
subserve  its  own  inherent  demands.  The 
union  of  conation  and  cognition  within  the 
soul  has  brought  forth  everything  that  has 
happened  outside  the  natural  process  of  the 
physical  world,  and  much  even  of  that  world 

128 


UNIVERSAL  RELIGION  129 

has  been  made  subservient  to  man.  When 
the  attention  is  turned  to  this  "  fact  of  facts  " 
concerning  the  work  of  spiritual  life,  indivi- 
dually and  collectively,  it  is  impossible  to 
consider  it  as  a  mere  addendum  to  the  natural 
process,  however  closely  connected  it  may  be 
with  that  process.  Sufficient  has  been  said  to 
prove  the  superiority  of  spiritual  life  over  the 
whole  aspects  and  manifestations  of  Nature. 
The  question,  then,  cannot  be  laid  aside 
concerning  the  nature  of  the  life  of  the  spirit 
in  itself.  What  is  it  now  ?  What  is  it 
capable  of  becoming  ?  Why  should  its  evolu- 
tion snap  at  its  highest  point  ?  Why  cannot 
the  power  that  has  accomplished  so  much  in 
the  history  of  our  world,  and  has  always  done 
this  the  more  efficiently  the  more  a  remove 
from  the  realm  of  the  sensuous  took  place- 
why  cannot  such  a  power  proceed  farther  on 
its  course  ?  And  what  limits  can  be  set  to  it  ? 
The  pertinency  of  such  and  other  questions 
cannot  be  doubted.  The  spiritual  life  has  as- 
cended too  high  and  accomplished  too  much 
to  be  treated  with  indifference.  And  yet  that 
is  the  way  it  is  being  treated  only  too  widely 
to-day.  Men  hesitate  to  grant  to  it  a  reality 
of  its  own  because  of  its  close  connection  with 
mechanical  and  chemical  elements.  They 
half  affirm  and  half  deny  its  reality.  The 
question  arises,  What  is  reality?  Eucken 
agrees  with  the  great  idealists  of  the  world 
that  reality  in  its  highest  manifestation  is 

9 


130  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

something  that  pertains  to  spirit  and  meaning 
rather  than  to  matter  and  its  behaviour.1  Our 
rigid  clinging  to  a  meaning  of  reality  from  the 
side  of  its  physical  history  is  doubtless  a  remnant 
of  a  race  -  memory  which  may  be  largely 
physical  in  its  nature.  We  find  a  difficulty 
in  conceiving  as  yet  a  reality  existing  in  itself 
— existing  in  itself  though  material  elements 
have  helped  it  on  its  upward  course.  But 
even  here  it  is  not  at  all  certain  that  nothing 
but  material  elements  have  operated  in  this 
fundamental  process.  Men  have  by  now  known 
enough  of  the  connection  of  mind  with  lower 
processes  in  order  to  be  aware  of  a  mystery 
present  in  the  whole  operation — a  mystery 
which  does  not  yield  itself  to  the  senses. 

But  even  such  a  past  history  of  the  spiritual 
life  is  not  all  that  can  be  said  concerning  it. 
It  is  now  in  process  of  evolution,  and  its 
greatest  work  is  always  accomplished  not  by 
looking  backward  but  forward.  The  whole 
universe  has  operated  in  bringing  spiritual  life 
into  existence.  Are  there  any  reasons  what- 
ever for  concluding  that  the  whole  universe  is 
not  co-operating  now  in  its  further  develop- 
ment? Life,  civilisation,  culture,  morality, 
and  religion  are  proofs  that  this  life  of  the 
spirit  is  moving  onward  and  upward.  It  does 
not  move  without  checks  and  entanglements 

1  Cf.  the  closing  passages  of  Bradley's  Appearance  and 
Reality  for  a  similar  view  ;  also  the  latter  part  of  Ward's 
Realm  of  Ends. 


UNIVERSAL  RELIGION  131 

from  without  and  within,  but  in  every  "  long 
run  "  it  is  gaining  some  new  ground  and  tilling 
it  as  its  own.  It  dare  not  turn  back ;  it  dare 
not  throw  away  the  pack  of  the  Sollen  (the 
Ought)  off  its  shoulders.  The  over-individual 
norms  have  planted  themselves  too  strongly  in 
the  heart  of  humanity  to  be  ever  uprooted. 
The  meaning  and  value  of  life  now  lie  in  a 
beyond.  It  is  not  a  beyond  within  any  physical 
region  that  was ;  neither  is  it,  so  far  as  we 
know,  a  beyond  in  any  physical  region  that 
is  to  be.  It  is  a  beyond  of  the  spirit ;  and  as  it 
is  the  most  real  and  most  requisite  possession 
of  man,  how  can  it  have  anything  less  than  a 
cosmic  significance  ?  The  future  of  spiritual 
life  is  therefore  governed  not  by  something 
that  is  to  be  in  the  cosmos,  but  by  something 
that  is  now  present  in  it — by  the  acknowledg- 
ment, assimilation,  and  appropriation  by  man 
and  humanity  of  spiritual  norms  which  are  far 
beyond  their  present  actual  situation. 

The  whole  meaning  here  is  that  something 
sub  specie  ceternitatis  has  to  take  the  foremost 
place  in  life.  We  are  beings  who  perpetually 
move.  Eucken  and  Bergson  are  both  emphasis- 
ing this  to-day.  But  the  latter  deals  with  the 
movement  alone  ;  he  has  no  notion  whither  we 
are  going,  nor  can  he  possibly  have  until  he 
revises  very  largely  his  conception  of  the 
function  and  meaning  of  intellect  in  life.1  But 

1  This  weakness  of  Bergson's  philosophy  is  shown  in 
the  whole  of  Bosanquet's  Principle  of  Individuality  and  Value. 


132  EUCKEN;S   PHILOSOPHY 

Eucken  states  that  we  do  know  whither  we  are 
going.  What  are  the  over-personal  spiritual 
norms  and  standards  but  stars  by  which  to  steer 
the  direction  of  our  course  over  the  tempestuous 
sea  of  time  ?  Everyone  who  guides  his  life  in 
connection  with  reason  guides  it  by  means  of 
some  norm  or  other.  Even  the  daily  avocation 
requires  this  in  order  to  be  fulfilled.  And 
the  norms  which  furnish  guidance  to  the 
spiritual  life  have  originated  and  are  utilised 
in  precisely  the  same  manner  as  those  of  the 
daily  avocation.  The  only  difference  is  that 
there  is  more  meaning  and  value  in  the  former 
than  in  the  latter.  But  each  is  a  Sollen  and 
constitutes  a  beyond.  This  Sollen  is  a  cer- 
tainty ;  it  exists,  and  its  existence  is  in  itself. 
It  is  the  star  for  the  Woollen.1  The  Will  is 
our  own  ;  the  Ought  is  not  our  own ;  the  fact 
that  we  possess  it  as  an  idea  is  no  proof  that  it 
has  become  a  possession  of  the  whole  of  life. 
In  this  sense  the  Ought  has  an  objectivity  and 
a  subsistence  of  its  own.  The  Will  has  to 
travel  in  the  direction  of  the  Ought,  and  its 
course  is  mapped  out  by  this  Ought  at  every 
step  of  its  progress.  Hence,  in  order  to  reach 
towards  the  Sollen  the  nature  of  the  Sollen 
must  become  known.  As  noticed  in  previous 
chapters,  such  a  movement  towards  so  high 

1  It  is  a  great  merit  of  Windelband  to  have  brought 
this  aspect  of  the  Ought  prominently  forward  in  contra- 
distinction to  the  over-importance  attached  to  the  Will 
alone  by  the  Pragmatists.  Cf.  his  Prdludien. 


UNIVERSAL  RELIGION  133 

a  goal  becomes  a  difficult  task  —  a  task 
which  demands  the  activity  of  the  whole 
spiritual  nature.  Man's  dependency  and  the 
meaning  of  his  life  are  thus  set  before  his 
eyes,  and  the  aspects  of  momentary  existence 
are  valued  as  of  secondary  importance.  Unless 
this  meaning  of  the  norm  becomes  clear,  life 
will  revolve  around  the  reality  nearest-at-hand, 
and  will  consequently  fail  to  unfold  the  deeper 
spirituality  of  its  nature.  "  And  if  all  depended 
on  the  brief  flash  of  the  moment,  which  endures 
but  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  only  to  vanish 
into  the  dark  of  nothingness,  then  all  life 
would  mean  a  mere  exit  into  death.  Thus, 
without  eternity  there  is  no  spirituality,  and 
without  connection  there  is  no  content  of  life. 
But  what  is  enthroned  in  itself  above  Time 
becomes  for  the  man  who  wins  such  a  spiritu- 
ality, first  of  all,  an  immense  task  which  allows 
itself  to  be  grasped  on  the  field  of  Time  alone  ; 
and,  also,  the  Eternal  which  works  within  us 
and  which  hovers  before  us  on  the  horizon  of 
Eternity  can  become  our  full  possession  only 
through  the  movement  of  Time.  To  wish  to 
check  the  course  of  Time  means  not  to  serve 
Eternity,  but  to  ascribe  to  Time  what  belongs 
to  Eternity."  x 

It  is  not  said  by  Eucken  anywhere  in  his 
writings  that  the  natural  sources  at  which  Life 
drinks  must  be  abandoned.  These  remain  with 
us  as  long  as  we  are  in  this  world  of  space  and 

1   The  Truth  of  Religion,  p.  175. 


134  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

time.  But  these  are  not  found  in  the  same 
place,  neither  is  the  same  importance  attached 
to  them,  once  the  meaning  and  value  of  the 
over-personal  norms  and  the  potency  of  spiritual 
creativeness  have  come  into  union  with  one 
another. 

What  Eucken  means  by  universal  religion 
is  the  establishment  of  this  independency  and 
supremacy  of  spiritual  life  over  all  else  in 
the  world.  We  have  already  dealt  with  this 
aspect  in  former  chapters ;  the  conclusion  was 
reached  that  everywhere  the  presence  of  a  life 
of  the  spirit  made  itself  felt,  and  gave  a  mean- 
ing and  interpretation  to  all  life  and  existence. 
That  is  the  conclusion  Eucken  arrives  at  in 
his  Kampf  urn  einen  geistigen  Lebensinhalt. 
The  problem  of  religion  qua  religion  is  hardly 
touched.  But,  indeed,  what  other  than  re- 
ligion can  all  these  conclusions  mean  ?  Norm 
and  potency  are  emphasised.  An  elevation 
above  the  world  and  above  the  "small  self" 
has  taken  place.  But  something  still  has  to 
be  done  before  we  have  entered  into  the  very 
heart  of  the  matter.  The  problems  which 
arise  after  all  the  conclusions  previously  arrived 
at  are  acknowledged  must  be  taken  into  account. 
Having  come  so  far  in  regard  to  the  value  and 
meaning  of  spiritual  life,  we  are  bound  to  go 
farther.  No  point  occurs  where  we  can  find 
a  terminus.  Though  we  have  already  been  con- 
strained to  grant  the  norms  a  reality  of  their 
own,  we  have  only  just  touched,  here  and  there, 


UNIVERSAL  RELIGION  135 

upon  their  cosmic  significance.  The  matter 
thus  reaches  a  further  point  than  we  have  yet 
touched.  What  justification  is  there  for  grant- 
ing spiritual  life  this  cosmic  significance  ? 

Attention  has  already  been  called  to  the 
fact  of  a  distinction  between  nature  and 
spirit.  But  attention  has  now  to  be  directed 
to  the  necessity  of  emphasising  the  reality  of 
spirit.  The  nature  of  spirit  is  revealed  most 
clearly  in  the  life  and  content  of  human  con- 
sciousness. No  anthropomorphic  standard  from 
without  can  come  to  our  aid  to  establish  the 
existence  of  spirit.  The  standard  is  to  be 
found  within  the  consciousness  itself.  A  dis- 
tinction has  to  be  made  between  nature  and 
spirit.  However  much  they  resemble  each 
other  in  the  beginnings  of  life,  spirit  has 
travelled  far  beyond  nature  or  matter.  It 
has  developed  for  itself  an  essence  which  may 
be  designated  as  substance.  The  chief  char- 
acteristic of  matter  is  that  it  occupies  space ; 
but  spirit,  though  connected  with,  and  largely 
conditioned  by,  matter  as  it  exists  in  space,  is 
now  something  quite  other — something  which 
has  to  be  granted  an  existence  of  its  own,  and 
which  forms  the  beginning  of  a  new  kind  of 
world  and  unfolds  a  new  kind  of  reality. 

The  reality  of  spiritual  life  is  not  discovered 
in  anything  which  is  external  to  life  ;  it  is  to 
be  found  in  life  itself.  The  reality  is  revealed 
and,  indeed,  created  by  an  act  of  the  spirit  of 
man.  Such  an  act  must  be  the  act  of  one's 


136  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

own  deepest  being.  But  although  such  a  new 
reality  is  not  to  be  found  in  anything  external 
to  life,  yet  the  very  revelation  points,  as 
we  have  already  observed,  to  something  which 
is  over-individual.  Even  the  meaning  of  the 
reality  itself,  from  its  immanent  side,  is  some- 
thing quite  other  than  the  natural  life  and  its 
contents.  It  is  something  revealed,  but  not  as 
yet  possessed ;  it  is  hard  to  be  reached ;  and 
even  within  the  man's  own  nature  obstacles 
and  hindrances  of  various  kinds  are  to  be 
found.  But  the  new  reality  persists  in  the 
midst  of  the  hindrances ;  the  man  discovers 
himself  as  the  possessor  of  a  deeper  kind  of 
truth  than  was  present  and  operative  in  the 
ordinary  life.  A  cleavage  is  therefore  made 
between  the  "  small  self"  and  the  spiritual  life. 
In  the  degree  the  former  wins  through  the 
calling  forth  of  the  deepest  activities  of  the 
soul,  in  that  degree  does  the  transcendent 
aspect  of  the  new  reality  urge  itself  upon  man. 
And  when  the  two  aspects — immanent  and 
transcendent — of  the  reality  are  firmly  grasped 
by  the  soul,  the  soul  moves  upward  in  the 
exploration  and  possession  of  its  new  world. 

The  failure  to  enter  into  this  region  of 
religion  is  due  to  the  fact  that  men  often 
attempt  to  construct  religion  on  certain  so- 
called  faculties  of  the  soul.  Some  attempt  to 
discoverandestablishreligion  through  the  power 
and  conclusions  of  the  intellect.  It  is  evident 
that  when  the  knowing  aspect  of  consciousness 


UNIVERSAL  RELIGION  137 

takes  such  a  leading  part,  and  deliberately  ig- 
nores the  affective  and  active  aspects,  no  more 
than  a  segment  of  the  reality  can  be  discovered, 
and  such  a  segment  leaves  out  of  account  im- 
portant elements  of  human  nature.  If  the 
affective  aspect  takes  the  lead  at  the  expense 
of  the  other  two  aspects,  we  are  here  again  in 
a  region  where  only  certain  fragments  of  our 
nature  are  touched.  If  the  active  aspect  busies 
itself  without  carrying  along  with  itself  the 
content  of  meaning  and  value  to  be  discovered 
in  consciousness,  the  true  element  of  the  great- 
ness of  the  reality  is  missing.  Eucken  shows 
in  his  Truth  of  Religion  that  there  must  be  a 
point  in  the  soul,  at  some  deeper  level  than 
any  of  the  three,  where  the  three  are  working 
conjointly.1  It  must  be  so,  because  what  is 
now  at  stake  is  more  than  knowing  a  thing ; 
it  is  to  be  the  thing  we  know  we  ought  to  be. 
It  is  unfamiliarity  with  such  a  truth  that  brings 
a  difficulty  into  the  mind  when  face  to  face 

1  Modern  psychology  would  agree  with  such  a  view,  but 
probably  not  with  the  implications  given  to  it  by  Eucken. 
The  "faculty  "  psychology  as  it  was  presented  by  Kant  has 
now  disappeared,  and  consciousness  is  conceived  as  a  unity 
in  which  the  three  aspects  referred  to  are  present,  and  even 
the  single  aspect  that  is  in  the  foreground  of  consciousness 
is  influenced  by  the  others  which  are  in  the  background. 
Another  point  made  clear  by  Hoffding  (cf.  his  Psychology) 
and  others  is  the  difference  between  the  activity  of  con- 
sciousness in  the  "  drifting"  process  of  association  of  ideas 
and  its  power  to  stem  the  association  current,  and  to  turn 
it  into  new  directions  by  means  of  the  reflective  power  of 
consciousness  itself. 


138  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

with  the  problem  of  religion.  The  mind  has 
not  learned  how  to  attend  to  the  truth  in  its 
own  self-subsistence,  but  posits  this  truth  in 
its  relation  to  the  conditions  in  the  external 
world  which  brought  it  forth.1  Thus  the  con- 
ception of  truth  is  made  up  very  largely  of  its 
history  on  its  physical  side,  and  this  history  of 
the  truth  comes  to  possess  the  entire  meaning 
of  the  truth  itself!  The  road  to  religion,  in 
its  deepest  sense,  is  barred  to  everyone  who 
fails  or  refuses  to  grant  the  deeper  reality 
which  presents  itself  within  the  soul  a  self -sub- 
sistence. The  only  existence  of  such  a  reality 
can  be  its  own  self-subsistence.  The  reality  is 
now  conceived  as  something  quite  other  than 
an  existence  in  space ;  it  exists  for  conscious- 
ness and  can  persist  within  consciousness. 

When  reality  is  conceived  as  a  substance 
subsisting  in  itself,  the  passage  to  the  Absolute 
is  opened.  This  Absolute  is  the  most  universal 
and  complete  meaning  and  value  which  the  soul 
is  capable  of  possessing  ;  its  very  nature  forces 
itself  upon  man  as  being  true ;  and  its  value 
has  revealed  itself  in  its  being  the  only  power 
which  will  carry  farther  the  spiritual  evolution 
of  the  soul.  If  such  an  Absolute  is  left  out  of 
account,  it  is  evident  that  the  most  universal 

1  It  is  a  great  merit  of  Bergson's  philosophy  to  have 
pointed  this  out.  It  is  a  conception  presented  several  times 
in  the  history  of  philosophy,  but  there  is  great  need  of 
re-emphasising  it  to-day,  especially  as  things  in  space  have 
gripped  the  soul  with  such  power  and  disastrous  results. 


UNIVERSAL  RELIGION  139 

truth  which  presents  itself  to  life  as  absolutely 
necessary  cannot  enter  into  the  deepest  recesses 
of  the  soul ;  it  cannot  be  more  than  a  sub- 
sidiary element  accompanying  lower  intellect- 
ual elements  of  life,  which  are  more  closely 
allied  on  such  a  lower  level  with  physical 
processes  of  the  body  and  with  the  physical 
world.  And  when  truth  is  treated  in  this 
manner,  it  cannot  possibly  make  its  abode  and 
become  a  power  in  the  soul.  Consciousness 
hesitates  to  create  a  further  cleft  within  itself 
because  the  evidence  of  truth  at  such  a  height 
as  this  does  not  lend  itself  to  the  senses.  The 
result  is  that  the  full  power  of  the  truth  fails  to 
produce  effects  on  the  consciousness,  and  thus 
keeps  it  on  practically  the  same  level  as  that  on 
which  it  has  been  accustomed  to  work.  The 
higher  truth — the  higher  spiritual  life — has  not 
become  anything  more  than  a  fact  of  knowledge 
or  a  probability.  It  has  not  become  one's  own 
life.  It  is  only  when  this  higher  aspect  of  spiritual 
life  becomes  one's  own  life,  and  is  acknow- 
ledged and  used,  that  it  is  ever  possible  for  man 
to  become  the  possessor  of  an  original  energy, 
of  an  independent  governing  centre,  and  so  to 
realise  himself  as  a  co-carrier  of  a  cosmic  move- 
ment. This  is  the  presupposition  of  religion : 
it  testifies  that  within  man's  soul  there  appears 
something  higher  than  sense  or  intellect,  but 
which  remains  surrounded  by  alien  elements 
which  impose  checks  to  its  further  development. 
It  is  quite  evident  that  the  appearance  of 


140  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

truths  which  are  absolute  and  complete  within 
the  life  is  in  direct  antagonism  to  much  that 
was  previously  present  within  it.  This  funda- 
mental fact,  however,  is  not  evident  without  a 
great  deal  of  attention  paid  to  the  nature  of 
the  higher  elements  which  present  themselves. 
Without  comparing  the  values  of  the  higher 
and  the  lower  elements,  how  is  it  ever  possible 
to  know  what  they  are  and  what  they  mean  ? 
When  the  whole  being  attends  to  both  elements 
—higher  and  lower — there  is  no  possibility  of 
making  a  mistake  concerning  the  different 
values  of  what  are  presented.  A  higher  grade 
of  reality  reveals  itself  over  against  all  that  had 
been  previously  gained.  The  soul  is  forced  to 
admit  that  something  of  a  higher  nature  than 
it  hitherto  possessed  seeks  admission.  And 
this  Higher,  if  it  enters  into  the  whole  of  life, 
so  far  from  revealing  itself  as  a  continuation 
of  what  had  already  happened,  reveals  itself 
as  something  which  is  discontinuous  with 
the  ordinary  life,  and  superior  even  to  the 
highest  attainments  of  the  intellectual  life. 
And  it  is  this  aspect  which  produces  the  con- 
viction of  such  a  revelation  as  being  objective 
in  its  very  nature.  It  belongs  to  something 
or  somebody  outside  our  own  individual  ex- 
perience or  achievement.  That  there  is  much 
which  is  mysterious  in  all  this,  is  only  what 
might  be  expected.  But  the  very  fact  that 
the  Higher  comes  with  such  power  when  the 
soul  expects,  assimilates,  and  appropriates  it 


UNIVERSAL   RELIGION  141 

is  a  proof  of  its  existence  somewhere  at  the 
core  of  the  universe.  It  cannot  mean  an  il- 
lusion ;  it  brings  changes  of  too  fundamental 
a  nature  to  be  no  more  than  that.  Its  very 
value  and  the  enormous  difficulty  of  turning  it 
from  being  an  idea  into  being  a  possession 
demand  too  much  energy  of  the  soul  to  allow 
of  its  being  dismissed  without  any  more  ado. 
It  contains  elements  so  different  in  their  nature 
from  the  ordinary  life  of  the  hour  as  to  render 
it  impossible  to  be  considered  of  no  more  than 
of  subsidiary  importance.  For  it  has  to  be 
borne  in  mind  that  the  values  and  norms 
farthest  removed  from  the  regions  of  sense 
and  intellect  appear  only  when  man  follows 
the  drift  of  his  own  higher  being ;  it  is  not 
when  he  remains  effortless  and  satisfied  with 
the  life  of  the  hour  that  such  values  and  norms 
appear.  They  appear  when  the  ordinary  life  is 
seen  through  as  no  more  than  a  stage  for  the 
further  evolution  of  the  soul  through  the 
grasping  of  a  higher  kind  of  reality  than  has 
as  yet  presented  itself  to  it.  As  Eucken  says  : 
"  Religion  proves  itself  a  kingdom  of  opposites. 
When  it  steps  out  of  such  opposites,  it  destroys 
without  a  doubt  the  turbidity  and  evanescence 
of  ordinary  commonplace  life,  and  separates 
clearly  the  lights  and  shadows  from  one 
another.  It  sets  our  life  between  the  sharpest 
contrasts,  and  engenders  the  most  powerful 
feelings  and  the  most  mighty  movements ;  it 
shows  the  dark  abyss  in  our  nature,  but  also 


142  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

shows  illumined  peaks  ;  it  opens  out  infinite 
tasks,  and  brings  ever  to  an  awakening  a  new 
life  in  its  movement  against  the  ordinary  self. 
It  does  not  render  our  existence  lighter,  but  it 
makes  it  richer,  more  eventful,  and  greater; 
it  enables  man  to  experience  cosmic  problems 
within  his  own  soul  in  order  to  struggle  for  a 
new  world,  and,  indeed,  in  order  to  gain  such 
a  genuine  world  as  its  own  proper  life."1 

All  this  is  not  a  matter  of  speculation,  but 
of  fact.  And  it  is  in  the  recognition  of  this 
fact  that  Eucken's  philosophy  of  religion  con- 
stitutes a  new  kind  of  idealistic  movement 
— a  movement  tending  more  and  more  in  the 
direction  of  Christianity.  But  he  differs  here 
again  from  the  absolute  idealists  and  the 
pragmatists.  The  former  base  their  Absolute 
upon  the  demands  of  logic,  whilst  Eucken 
bases  all  upon  the  demands  and  potencies  of 
life  ;  the  pragmatists  emphasise  the  primary 
place  of  the  will  in  the  development  of  the 
inner  life,  but  they  have  certainly  ignored  the 
presence  of  over-individual  norms,  as  the  goal 
of  volition,  whilst  Eucken  holds  to  the 
necessity  of  both.  With  the  absolutists  the 
relation  of  the  Absolute  with  the  will  is  not 
clearly  perceived,  and  consequently  the  Ab- 
solute becomes  merely  an  object  of  thought 
and  contemplation;  and  in  all  this  the  in- 
dividual does  not  become  aware  of  a  burning 
desire  to  move  in  the  direction  of  the  goal. 

1   The  Truth  of  Religion,  p.  243. 


UNIVERSAL  RELIGION  143 

The  pragmatist  leaves  the  individual  at  the 
mercy  of  the  momentary  content  of  conscious- 
ness ;  this  content  is  quite  as  likely  to  be  trivial 
as  to  be  great ;  and  hence  there  is  no  absolute 
standard  present  to  determine  the  nature  and 
value  of  this  content  of  the  moment,  and  con- 
sequently no  more  than  a  life  of  effortless 
drifting  can  issue  out  of  all  this. 

This  blend  of  absolutism  and  pragmatism 
is  richer  in  its  content  than  either  of  the  two. 
Each  has  missed  something  of  importance, 
and  it  is  here  supplied  by  Eucken. 

Norms  and  potency  become  two  indissoluble 
factors  in  the  evolution  of  the  higher  life.  As 
already  stated,  the  norms  have  an  objectivity 
of  their  own,  and  consequently  when  they 
enter  into  life,  life  becomes  conscious  of  their 
being  something  given  and  not  brought  into 
existence  by  its  own  potency.  It  is  out  of 
this  conclusion  to  which  life  is  forced  that  the 
doctrine  of  Grace,  found  in  some  way  or  other 
in  all  religions,  is  to  be  accounted  for.  And 
it  is  out  of  the  consciousness  of  the  interval 
between  norm  and  achievement  that  the 
sense  of  guilt  follows  man  whenever  he 
penetrates  deeply  into  the  deeper  experiences 
of  the  soul.  Grace  and  guilt — naming  only 
two  experiences  of  the  soul — are  not  remnants 
of  a  traditional  theology,  but  essential  elements 
which  accompany  the  deepest  experience  of 
the  soul.  When  they  are  wanting,  it  is  most 
probable  that  the  soul  has  not  plumbed  its  own 


144  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

existence  to  its  very  depths,  but  has  rather 
chosen  to  be  satisfied  with  what  lies  but  a 
little  way  beneath  the  surface — with  what 
does  not  cause  too  much  uneasiness,  but  is 
sufficient  for  a  life  to  persist  as  a  good  member 
of  the  society  by  which  it  is  surrounded. 
Only  half  a  religion  can  become  the  possession 
of  any  individual  who  does  not  at  least  pay  as 
much  attention  to  the  nature  and  value  of 
over-individual  norms  as  he  pays  to  the  nature 
of  the  environment  and  of  the  ordinary  life. 
It  is  always  a  sign  that  humanity  is  drifting 
to  the  shallows  of  life  when  it  looks  upon 
religion  as  the  flowering  of  the  mere  natural 
life  of  good  custom,  earthly  happiness,  and 
ease.  Whenever  the  tragedy  born  in  the 
conflict  between  norms  and  ordinary  life  is 
absent,  the  very  elements  which  constitute 
greatness  and  the  " taste  of  eternity"  are 
also  absent.  It  is  on  account  of  this  fact  that 
Eucken  insists  that  no  individual  or  nation 
that  loses  its  own  deeper  religious  experience 
can  be  really  great  or  true;  for  the  purest 
spring  of  human  life  and  conduct  is  wanting, 
and  the  whole  life  issues  from  a  shallower 
stream.  It  is  impossible  here  to  enter  into 
the  truth  of  this  matter ;  but  our  individual 
observation  concerning  men  and  communities  is 
almost  enough  of  itself  to  verify  the  statement. 
That  such  a  higher  spiritual  life  is  a  reality 
may  be  evidenced  further  through  its  effects. 
It  changes  the  whole  relationship  of  the  man 


UNIVERSAL  RELIGION  145 

who  has  experienced  it  to  everything  he  comes 
in  contact  with.  New  convictions  and  new 
points  of  view  have  now  actually  occurred 
within  his  soul ;  man  has  become  conscious  of 
a  spiritual  inwardness,  brought  forth  through 
the  presence  of  an  over-personal  spiritual  life 
coupled  with  his  own  spiritual  needs.  With 
the  possession  of  such  spiritual  elements,  how 
is  it  possible  for  him  any  more  to  look  upon 
the  world  and  human  life  with  the  same  eyes 
as  before  ?  The  dawning  of  a  new  reality  has 
made  him  a  new  creature  ;  he  is  now  compelled 
by  his  own  deeper  nature  to  preserve  and  to 
reflect  the  light  which  is  within  him ;  and  all  this 
brings  prominently  forward  the  need  of  some- 
thing other  for  the  progress  of  the  world  than 
the  first  look  of  things  is  able  to  show.  It  is 
in  such  manner  as  this  that  we  must  account 
for  all  the  ideals  which  have  moved  mankind 
from  the  level  of  animalism  and  greed  to  the 
level  of  civilisation,  culture,  morals,  and  re- 
ligion. The  work  is  far  from  being  completed : 
the  world  still  clings  to  the  old  level  of  ordin- 
ary life,  and  is  so  slow  to  grasp  the  value  of 
the  life  of  spiritual  ideals.  Still,  something 
has  been  accomplished  in  the  course  of  the 
ages  ;  and  although,  probably,  the  progress  has 
not  been  continuous,  there  has  been  a  gain  in 
the  "  long  run."  But  the  point  to  bear  in  mind 
is  that  it  is  the  power  of  the  over-individual 
ideal  which  has  carried  the  race  along.  Ideals 
have  been  perverted,  it  is  true  ;  they  have  been 

10 


146  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

drawn  down  and  mixed  with  what  was  inferior 
in  its  nature,  yet  they  have  never  been  com- 
pletely destroyed  in  this  evil  process.  They 
have  still  a  marvellous  power  of  disentangling 
themselves  from  human  perversions,  and  of  re- 
vealing themselves  once  more  in  their  pristine 
power  and  glory.  "But  the  spiritual  life  declares 
its  ability  also  positively  within  the  human  pro- 
vince through  a  persistent  effort  to  move  out- 
side the  *  given '  situation,  through  a  tracing  out 
and  a  holding  forth  of  ideals,  through  a  longing 
after  a  more  complete  happiness  and  a  more 
complete  truth.  Why  is  not  man  satisfied  with 
the  relativity  which  so  obstinately  clings  to 
his  existence  ?  Why  has  he  a  longing  for  the 
Absolute  in  opposition  to  such  relativity,  and 
through  this  plunges  himself  into  the  deepest 
sorrows  and  distractions  ?  This  has  happened 
not  only  in  special  situations  of  individuals, 
but  in  the  whole  process  of  culture ;  indeed, 
the  upward  march  of  culture  would  have  been 
impossible  without  a  striving  of  man  from  a 
level  above  his  'given'  position  and  even 
above  himself.  Was  not  subjective  satisfaction 
more  easily  reached  by  him  in  the  semi-animal 
stages  of  his  existence  than  in  culture  and 
civilisation  with  all  their  toils  and  tangles,  and 
does  the  progress  of  culture  and  civilisation  with 
all  their  mechanical  appliances  make  him  in 
the  merely  human  sense  happier  ?  What  else 
could  compel  him  to  step  into  this  perilous 
track  but  the  necessity  of  his  own  nature 


UNIVERSAL  RELIGION  147 

revealing  to  him  the  presence  of  a  new  order 
of  things?"1 

The  whole  of  this  movement  is  from  within 
without.  Even  the  physical  world  has  to 
enter  into  consciousness  before  it  can  be 
known  and  interpreted ;  even  the  over-indi- 
vidual norms  have  to  be  accepted  and  inter- 
preted by  the  spiritual  potency  before  the 
reality  which  they  possess  in  themselves  can 
become  our  own  personal  reality.  We  receive 
from  without  on  the  plane  of  Nature  and  on 
the  planes  of  mentality  and  spirituality.  The 
consciousness  does  not  evolve  its  content  on 
any  level  of  its  progress  from  itself  alone. 
Material  from  without  has  to  enter  into  it. 
But  the  whole  of  this  material  will  become 
one's  own  possession  in  the  degree  it  is  at- 
tended to  after  it  has  entered  consciousness ; 
something  has  to  happen  to  the  material  within 
consciousness ;  it  has  to  awaken  a  potency, 
and  has  to  distil  its  own  content  within  that 
potency.  But  as  this  potency  is  not  of  the 
same  nature  entirely  as  what  presents 
itself  as  possessing  value,  it  is  clear  that  the 
higher  element  which  presents  itself  has  to 
enter  into  a  struggle  for  the  throne  of  life  with 
elements  of  a  lower  order.  As  this  all-im- 
portant fact  has  been  dealt  with  in  a  previous 
chapter,  there  is  no  need  to  dwell  on  it  again ; 
but  it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  fact 

1   The  Truth  of  Religion,  p.  200.     Cf.  also  Konnen  nrir  nock 
Christen  sein?  pp.  91-141. 


148  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

constitutes  an  important  element  in  Eucken's 
conception  of  "  universal "  religion. 

"  Universal "  and  "  Characteristic  "  religion 
do  not  constitute  two  different  religions,  but 
two  grades  of  the  one  religion.  In  "Universal" 
religion  Eucken  deals  very  largely  with  the 
intellectual  grounds  of  religion.  He  is  aware 
that  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  carry  our 
whole  potencies  into  religion.  Intellect  is  one 
of  these,  and  we  cannot  afford  to  construct 
our  religion  on  what  comes  into  perpetual 
conflict  with  intellectual  conceptions.  Eucken 
has  shown  that  intellectual  conclusions,  if  they 
are  carried  far  enough  and  include  the  whole 
of  their  own  meaning,  lead  us  into  religion. 
We  have  already  noticed  how  the  presence  of 
norms  and  standards  were  necessitated  by  the 
very  theory  of  knowledge  itself.  It  is  a  great 
gain  for  man  to  know  that  this  is  so — that  in 
so  far  as  knowledge  testifies  anything  in  regard 
to  religion  and  spiritual  life  it  affirms  more 
than  it  negates.  It  is  of  enormous  advantage 
to  be  assured  that  knowledge  is  on  our  side  in 
the  quest  for  something  that  is  deeper  than 
itself. 

Further,  Eucken  conceives  it  as  the  function 
of  religion  on  this  "  Universal "  level  to  present, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  actual  situation.  What 
but  knowledge  can  reveal  to  us  the  difference 
between  spiritual  norms  and  ordinary  life, 
between  intellect  working  alone  and  intellect 
merged  with  the  spiritual  potency  of  one's 


UNIVERSAL  RELIGION  149 

being  ?  We  are  bound  to  know  these  and  a 
hundred  other  things.  They  all  go  to  prove 
that  there  is  justification  for  the  movement  of 
spiritual  life  in  the  direction  of  an  over-world, 
and  in  its  hope  for  the  possession  of  a  new 
grade  of  reality.  It  is  well  and  necessary  to 
affirm  all  this  before  we  enter  on  the  "  grand 
enterprise."  When  an  affirmation,  based  upon 
insight,  is  made,  there  will  be  present  within 
the  soul  a  greater  power  to  resist  hunting  after 
shadows  or  slipping  to  a  lower  level  when  we 
are  in  the  very  midst  of  the  quest.  And,  in- 
deed, on  this  very  level  of  "Universal"  religion 
something  besides  the  mere  knowledge  of 
religion  has  taken  place.  Values  which  are 
intellectually  true  are  bound  to  exercise  some 
influence  on  the  life.  Thus,  something  of  the 
nature  of  the  higher  reality  has  touched  the 
soul  and  will  of  man.  We  know  in  what  we 
have  believed.  This  is  a  stage  which  must 
be  passed  through,  for  we  can  never  feel 
certain  upon  a  higher  altitude  unless  we  are 
certain  of  what  had  led  to  it.  And  although, 
on  the  higher  altitude,  there  is  the  merging  of 
intellectual  truth  in  something  higher  than 
itself,  still  what  is  discovered  on  this  higher 
level  is  richer  in  content  if  we  can  call  up  at 
times  intellectual  affirmations  for  its  support. 

But  "  Universal "  religion  has  its  limitations, 
and  has  to  pass  into  something  more  character- 
istic, specific,  and  personal.  The  over-personal 
norms,  which  are  spiritual  in  their  very  nature, 


150  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

have  not  only  to  be  interpreted,  they  have 
also  to  be  appreciated  and  reverenced.  The 
Row  of  their  appearance,  after  it  is  settled, 
takes  a  secondary  place,  and  the  norms  in 
their  own  value  and  subsistence  are  attended 
to.  Thus,  they  become  not  merely  ideas 
having  some  kind  of  reality  of  their  own, 
but  also  become  revelations  of  the  very  nature 
of  the  world ;  they  become  the  source  of  all 
creation ;  the  one  spring  of  all  being.  In 
other  words,  they  are  made  to  mean  the  God- 
head ;  they  mean  the  creation  and  sustaining 
power  of  all  life.  A  communion  with  the 
Godhead  now  takes  place,  and  man  finds  him- 
self in  possession  of  experiences  brought  about 
without  the  intervention  of  the  world.  Thus 
"  Universal "  religion  culminates  in  a  "  Charac- 
teristic "  or  personal  religion.  And  to  this 
culmination,  as  it  is  presented  by  Eucken,  we 
now  turn. 


CHAPTER  IX 

CHARACTERISTIC    RELIGION 

ON  the  level  of  "  Universal "  religion  great 
changes  have  taken  place  in  life.  The  consci- 
ousness and  conviction  of  the  reality  of  a  new 
kind  of  world  have  arisen ;  the  sensuous,  and 
even  partially  the  intellectual,  domains  havebeen 
relegated  to  a  secondary  place :  other  values, 
higher  in  their  nature  and  more  universal  in 
their  scope,  have  attracted  the  attention  of 
mind  and  soul.  In  all  this  a  change  has  taken 
place  in  the  disposition  as  well  as  in  the  will. 
Prior  to  this  change  the  character  had  not  be- 
come conscious  of  its  own  inwardness,  but  re- 
mained subservient  to  the  norms  of  social  and 
moral  inheritance.  Some  amount  of  morality 
and  good  will  have  issued  forth  in  this  manner, 
and,  indeed,  the  gain  cannot  be  overestimated. 
But  it  is  evident  that  something  further  has 
to  happen  if  the  movement  of  society  is  to 
proceed  onward  and  upward,  and  if  the  energy 
for  such  a  movement  is  to  be  discovered  within 
the  soul.  The  whole  material  which  enters 
into  consciousness  has  to  obtain  a  deeper  mean- 


152  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

ing  than  it  hitherto  possessed.  And  this 
happens  on  the  level  of  "  Universal "  religion. 
The  spiritual  is  now  recognised  as  the  highest 
manifestation  of  life  ;  and  this  spiritual  is  seen 
to  be  something  which  has  to  be  gained  through 
a  struggle  which  calls  the  whole  nature  into 
activity.  Such  a  movement  from  the  less  to 
the  more  spiritual  proceeds  side  by  side  with 
the  freedom  of  the  individual.  Freedom  has 
now  taken  a  new  meaning.  Hitherto  it  meant 
little  more  than  the  consciousness  of  the  indi- 
vidual moving  along  the  line  of  least  resist- 
ance. The  effort  to  move  in  such  a  direction 
is  generally  pleasurable ;  and  when  it  tends  to 
become  painful  the  individual  gives  up  the 
effort.  The  highest  norms  were  not  present 
with  a  categorical  affirmation  of  their  reality 
and  value.  But  when  they  are  present,  the 
will  is  turned  from  the  direction  of  ordinary 
life  and  its  ease  to  the  conception  of  the  mean- 
ing and  value  of  the  highest  norms.  Some- 
thing, appearing  as  of  intrinsic  value,  now 
makes  itself  felt,  and  stirs  the  whole 
nature.  Thus,  a  new  movement  begins ;  the 
passive  attitude  of  the  soul  gives  way  to  an 
autonomous  attitude  and  movement.  The  will, 
consequently,  is  conscious  of  a  deeper  need  than 
any  hitherto  experienced,  and  therefore  calls 
into  being  some  deeper  elements  of  its  own  in 
order  to  reach  its  goal.  The  whole  nature  has 
now  affirmed  the  idea  of  the  good,  which  had 
dawned  upon  it  as  an  imperative.  It  is  in 


CHARACTERISTIC   RELIGION  153 

such  a  moment  that  the  real  nature  becomes 
free  —  it  becomes  conscious,  through  and 
through,  of  the  possibility  of  leaving  its  old 
world  and  of  ascending  into  a  new  one.  This 
is,  in  Eucken's  words,  the  real  spiritual  evolu- 
tion (Wesensbildung)  of  human  nature.  This 
evolution,  which,  prior  to  this,  was  considered 
very  largely  as  a  kind  of  gift  of  the  environ- 
ment, is  now  perceived  as  capable  of  realisation 
only  in  so  far  as  the  spiritual  norms  are  willed. 
When  we  examine  the  progress  of  humanity, 
we  discover  that  it  has  taken  place  in  this 
manner ;  a  task  had  to  be  set  and*  the  whole 
nature  had  to  be  called  forth  to  realise  it. 
The  result  is  that  a  new  creation  takes  place 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  Such  a  creation 
becomes  a  new  norm  in  the  moral  world,  as 
well  as  a  possession  in  the  life  of  the  individual 
who  has  struggled  to  realise  it. 

Such  a  spiritual  process,  after  something  of 
its  nature  has  been  realised,  finds  necessities 
laid  upon  it  on  all  hands.  Once  we  have 
stepped  into  the  very  centre  of  spiritual  norms 
and  ideals  they  begin  to  reveal  with  a  wonder- 
ful rapidity  and  impressiveness  their  own 
intrinsic  content  and  value.  "  Universal " 
religion  has  enabled  us  to  realise  that  we  are 
dealing  with  "grounds"  which  are  a  demand 
of  the  deepest  nature,  and  with  convictions 
which  seem,  without  a  doubt,  "  to  ring  true." 
The  man  has  found  a  shelter  in  the  midst  of 
all  the  chaos  and  welter  of  the  natural  process, 


154  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

and  his  deepest  reason  has  not  failed  to  come 
to  the  assistance  of  his  spiritual  need.  He 
now  becomes  conscious  of  security  and  even 
of  victory  in  the  enterprise  before  the  battle 
has  really  begun  on  an  arena  outside  his  own 
nature ;  a  conviction  is  being  brought  into 
being  within  his  deepest  soul  that  the  best  and 
strongest  elements  in  the  universe  are  on  his 
side.  Although  hindrances  and  entanglements 
of  all  kinds  increase  in  number,  the  increase 
in  spiritual  certainty,  and  faith  in  the  final 
issue  of  his  life,  have  grown  at  a  greater  ratio. 
Such  a  man  has  settled  his  destiny ;  he  has 
come  to  the  great  spiritual  affirmation  of  life 
— an  affirmation  which  has  to  be  repeated  so 
often,  and  which  each  time  distils  something 
of  a  higher  order  within  the  soul. 

It  is  evident  that  such  an  affirmation  of  the 
reality  of  spiritual  ideals,  which  have  now  an 
existence  of  their  own,  should  lead  us  farther. 
If  they  mean  so  much,  why  cannot  they  mean 
more?  If  they  subsist  in  themselves,  they 
must  be  what  they  are.  They  are  to  us  mean- 
ing and  value  of  infinite  significance.  But 
such  and  other  spiritual  characteristics  are  not 
things,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  not  mere  pro- 
jections of  our  own  individual  selves.  There 
'is  nothing  short  of  personality  and  over- 
personality  by  which  they  can  be  even  partially 
designated  and  determined.  We  are  forced 
to  this  conclusion  if  they  are  to  be  objects  of 
communion  and  union;  and  we  are  forced 


CHARACTERISTIC   RELIGION  155 

further  to  gather  the  Many  into  the  One. 
That  was  what  was  done  on  all  lower  planes. 
Why  stop  short  here,  because  infinitely  much 
happens  when  the  Many  find  their  points  of 
union  and  meaning  in  the  One  ? l  We  have 
said  that  infinitely  much  happens  when  the 
Many  find  their  meaning  in  the  One.  A 
need  of  the  nature  has  arisen  which  demands 
this,  and  it  has  arisen  at  its  highest  possible 
level  alone.  Such  a  nature  will  never  become 
absolutely  certain  of  the  meaning  and  value  of. 
all  that  has  led  up  to  this  until  the  One  obtains 
a  self-subsistence.  If  this  effort  fails,  the  whole 
effort  of  development  towards  unity  and  in- 
wardness fails.  And  when  such  a  chain  of  effort 
snaps  at  its  highest  link  of  spiritual  develop- 
ment, everything  that  had  entered  into  the 
process  at  all  the  levels  below  it  snaps  along 
with  it  in  so  far  as  it  had  any  validity  what- 
ever in  the  light  of  what  is  higher  than  itself. 

But  the  fact  that  this  conception  of  the 
One,  conceived  as  Absolute  Spiritual  Life,  has 
produced  so  many  effects  of  the  highest  kind 
is  a  proof  of  its  existence.  Qualities  come 
into  being  which  can  never  come  with  such 
power  in  any  other  way.  The  spiritual  ex- 
periences, revealed  at  such  a  level,  have  some- 
thing to  say  on  this  matter.  These  experiences, 

1  Cf.  Ward's  The  Realm  of  Ends,  chapters  ii.  and 
xx. ;  also  Caird's  Evolution  of  Religion  has  many  valuable 
hints  throughout  the  two  volumes  pointing  in  the  same 
direction. 


156  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

although  aware  of  the  meaning  of  universal 
concepts,  have  become  aware  of  something 
higher  still :  Knowledge  has  given  place  to 
Love;  a  region  has  been  reached  beyond  all 
the  contradictions  of  the  world  and  beyond  all 
the  dialectics  of  knowledge.  It  is  a  region 
which  includes  the  good  of  all  without  injuring 
the  good  of  any ;  and  all  the  meaning  of  the 
world  and  of  life  is  interpreted  from  this  high- 
est standpoint.  This  is  the  essence  of  "  charac- 
teristic "  or  specific  religion.  On  the  level  of 
"  universal "  religion,  God  was  seen  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  world ;  in  "  characteristic  " 
religion  the  world  is  seen  from  the  standpoint 
of  God.  The  appearance  of  the  world  is 
consequently  different  from  each  standpoint. 
All  must  now  be  viewed  and  valued  from  the 
standpoint  of  "characteristic"  religion,  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  One — the  Godhead ;  and 
if  humanity  is  ever  to  be  brought  to  this 
standpoint,  the  nature  and  the  meaning  of 
the  One  have  to  be  presented  to  it.  And  it 
is  this,  as  Eucken  shows,  which  has  been 
partially  accomplished  by  the  religions  of  the 
world.  Their  founders  were  personalities  who 
had  scaled  the  heights  towards  the  "holy  of 
holies  "  of  the  One ;  they  descended  into  the 
plains  to  reveal  what  they  had  seen  and  heard 
and  experienced  on  the  heights.  They  had 
been  able  to  commune  with  the  Alone,  and 
their  natures  had  been  completely  transformed. 
In  passing  thus  from  the  stage  of  "  universal  " 


CHARACTERISTIC  RELIGION  157 

religion  to  the  higher  stage  of  "  characteristic," 
men  have  discovered  a  further  security  and 
spiritual  evolution  of  their  whole  being.  Their 
views  of  man  and  the  world  have  become 
changed ;  they  now  long  to  make  mankind 
the  possessor  of  the  "  vision  splendid  "  which 
has  meant  all  for  them.  Communion  with 
the  One  as  Infinite  Love  has  revealed  to  them 
a  peace  and  a  power  which  are  far  beyond  all 
the  lower  unities. 

It  is  of  value,  in  the  midst  of  all  the  com- 
plexities of  life,  of  the  partial  interpretations 
of  the  various  branches  of  knowledge,  to  have 
passed  through  the  several  stages  below  the 
One.  Some  must  guard  the  highest  citadel  of 
religion  and  keep  open  the  avenues  to  Infinity, 
Eternity,  and  Immortality.  And  the  greater 
the  number  who  are  able  to  do  this,  the  better 
for  the  world  and  for  the  individual.  But  a 
taste  of  this  Infinite  Love  can  be  obtained 
without  all  this.  Just  as  some  of  us  are  able 
to  walk  without  a  knowledge  of  the  bodily 
mechanism  and  to  eat  and  digest  without  a 
knowledge  of  the  history  of  our  bread,  so  the 
deeper  spiritual  potencies  inherent  in  man  are 
able  to  find  a  vast  amount  of  satisfaction  by 
resting  upon  and  trusting  in  a  Love  Absolute, 
Eternal,  and  Infinite.  Here,  man  is  in  a 
region  of  infinite  calm  beyond  the  distractions 
of  the  world  and  of  knowledge.  He  cannot 
remain  here  for  any  great  length  of  time ;  he 
has  to  return  to  the  world,  but  he  is  never 


158  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

again  the  same  being  after  having  scaled  the 
"  mount  of  transfiguration."  "Religion  holds 
as  certain  and  conclusive  that  this  new  inner 
foundation  is  the  greatest  thing  of  all  and  the 
wonder  of  wonders,  because  it  carries  within 
itself  the  power  and  certainty  of  the  overcom- 
ing of  the  old  world  and  the  creation  of  a  new 
one  ;  it  is  on  account  of  this  that  religion  longs 
for  the  conviction  of  the  whole  man,  and 
brands  the  denial  of  this  as  pettiness  and 
unbelief.  The  world  may  therefore  remain  to 
the  external  view  as  it  appeared  before — a 
kingdom  of  opposition  and  darkness ;  its 
hindrances  within  and  without  may  seem  to 
nullify  everything  else;  they  may  contract 
and  even  seemingly  destroy  man  and  his 
spiritual  potencies ;  all  his  acts  may  seem 
fruitless  and  vain,  and  his  whole  existence 
may  seem  to  sink  into  nothingness  and  worth- 
lessness.  Yet,  through  the  entrance  of  the 
new  life  and  a  new  world,  everything  is 
transformed  from  within,  and  the  clearness  of 
the  light  appears  all  the  more  by  contrast  with 
all  the  depth  of  the  darkness.  Indeed,  in  the 
midst  of  all  the  mysteries  of  existence,  hope 
and  conviction  and  certainty  will  consolidate 
our  experience,  so  that  ultimately  evil  itself 
must  serve  the  development  of  the  good."1 
Or  in  the  words  of  Luther :  "  This  is  the 
spiritual  power  which  reigns  and  rules  in  the 
midst  of  enemies,  and  is  powerful  in  the  midst 

1  The  Truth  of  Religion,  p.  436. 


CHARACTERISTIC  RELIGION  159 

of  all  oppression.  And  this  is  nothing  other 
than  that  strength  is  perfected  in  weakness, 
and  that  in  all  things  1  can  gain  life  eternal, 
so  that  cross  and  crown  are  compelled  to  serve 
and  to  contribute  towards  my  salvation."1 

Eucken  shows  how  this  idea  of  God  comes 
from  the  Life-process  itself.  The  Godhead  is 
present,  not  as  an  external  revelation  but  as 
the  ever  fuller  meaning  and  experience  which 
have  been  carried  along  in  the  soul  in  its 
passage  from  the  natural  level  to  the  highest 
spiritual  plane.  At  its  summit  the  develop- 
ment unfolds  its  true  spiritual  content  of  Love. 
The  Highest  Power — however  much  there 
still  remains  dark  concerning  it  —  has  had 
communication  with  man,  is  present  within 
his  soul,  has  become  his  own  life  and  nature, 
as  well  as  his  self-subsistence  over  against  the 
order  of  the  world.  Here  Love  is  raised  up 
into  an  image  of  the  Godhead — Love  as  a  self- 
communication  and  as  an  essential  elevation 
of  the  nature,  and  as  an  expression  of  inmost 
fellowship.2  "  There  originates  a  mutual  inter- 
course of  the  soul  and  God  as  between  an  I 
and  a  Thou."  It  has  already  been  stated  that 
Eucken  insists  that  no  close  determination,  in 
an  intellectual  form,  should  be  given  to  this 
conception  and  experience  of  God.  The  idea  of 
a  personality  of  God  is  not  an  intellectual  idea 
presented  in  any  doctrinal  form  ;  it  is  an  idea 

1  Quoted  in  The  Truth  of  Religion,  p.  436. 

2  Cf.  The  Truth  of  Religion,  pp.  429  ff. 


160  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

born  within  the  Life-process  on  its  highest  levels. 
On  such  levels  it  becomes  obvious  and  indis- 
pensable. Man  may  be  clearly  conscious  of 
the  symbolism  of  the  idea,  and  yet,  at  the 
same  time,  grasp  in  it  an  incontestable  intrinsic 
truth  which  he  knows  to  be  far  above  all  mere 
anthropomorphism.  Eucken  shows  that  it  is 
not  merely  a  human  greatness  that  has  been 
transferred  to  the  Divine,  but  that  the  whole 
meaning  here  is  a  return  to  the  source  of  a 
Divine  Life  and  its  mutual  communication 
with  man  ;  and  therefore  the  whole  process  is 
not  an  argument  of  man  concerning  the  Divine, 
because  the  Divine  has  to  be  apprehended 
through  the  Divine  within  us.  "  All  opposi- 
tion to  the  idea  of  the  Divine  personality  is 
ultimately  explained  by  the  fact  that  an 
energetic  Life-process  is  wanting  —  a  Life- 
process  which  entertains  the  question  not  so 
much  from  without  as  from  within.  When- 
ever such  a  Life-process  is  found,  there  is 
simultaneously  found,  often  in  overt  contra- 
diction to  the  formal  doctrinal  statement,  an 
element  of  such  a  personal  character  of  God." 
But  this  immanent  aspect  of  the  idea  of  God 
is  accompanied  by  a  transcendent  aspect.  We 
have  noticed  already  that  the  very  nature  of  the 
Ought  included  a  transcendent  and  objective 
aspect.2  The  same  fact  becomes  evident  in 

1  The  Truth  of  Religion,  p.  430. 

2  This  fact  is  very  clearly  interpreted  by  Rickert  in  his 
Gegenstand  der  Erkenntnis, 


CHARACTERISTIC  RELIGION          161 

religious  experience.  The  two  poles — imman- 
ence and  transcendence — are  complementary. 
The  former  shows  that  something  of  the 
Divine  nature  has  been  implanted  within 
human  nature ;  the  latter  shows  that  more 
is  in  existence  than  we  have  already  possessed. 
Spiritual  norms  never  decrease  but  increase  in 
splendour  the  nearer  man  is  to  their  attain- 
ment. Something  is  here  discovered  which  is 
not  found  in  the  world  ;  it  is  a  kind  of  trans- 
cendent summit,  a  mysterious  sublimity.  And 
an  approach  towards  this  summit  produces  ex- 
periences never  to  be  possessed  in  any  other 
kind  of  way.  As  Eucken  himself  puts  it :  "  If 
this  sublimity  superior  to  the  world  secures  an 
abode  in  the  soul,  and,  indeed,  becomes  the  in- 
most and  most  intimate  part  of  our  being,  and 
enables  us  to  participate  in  the  self-subsistence 
of  infinity,  it  opens  up  within  us  a  fathomless 
depth,  in  which  the  existence  that  lies  nearest 
to  our  hands  is  swallowed  up,  and  it  makes 
us  a  problem  to  ourselves — a  problem  which 
transforms  the  whole  of  life — whilst  it  enables 
us  to  understand  and  to  handle  what  at  the 
outset  appeared  to  be  its  whole  life  as  a  mere 
phase  and  appearance.  Thus  it  is  the  same 
religion  which  opens  out  from  God  to  man 
and  which  simultaneously  opens  itself  out  in 
man  himself  and  becomes  a  great  mystery  to 
him.  Therefore,  in  the  idea  of  God  the  inti- 
mate and  the  ultimate  must  both  be  present  if 
religion  is  to  reach  its  full  development  and  to 


162  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

avoid  the  dangers  which  everywhere  threaten 
it."1  Both  these  aspects  interlace  in  one  Life- 
process  ;  the  unity  is  present  in  the  manifold, 
and  the  ultimate  present  in  the  intimate. 

According  to  Eucken,  it  is  out  of  such  an 
experience  as  we  have  noticed  that  the  idea  of 
immortality  becomes  a  firm  belief  and  faith 
within  the  soul.  The  idea  cannot  be  proved 
scientifically,  simply  because  its  spiritual  con- 
tent is  greater  than  anything  which  is  below  it. 
The  whole  proof  lies  within  the  experience 
itself  at  this,  its  highest  summit.  "  The  In- 
finite Power  and  Love  that  has  grounded  a 
new  spontaneous  nature  in  man,  over  against 
a  dark  and  hostile  world,  will  conserve  such  a 
new  nature  and  its  spiritual  nucleus,  and 
shelter  it  against  all  perils  and  assaults,  so  that 
life  as  the  bearer  of  life  eternal  can  never  be 
wholly  lost  in  the  stream  of  time."  We  are 
here  in  a  region  farthest  removed  from  sense 
and  understanding ;  but  the  remarkable  thing 
is  that  the  conviction  of  immortality  does  not 
dawn  on  any  lower  level ;  it  is  not  on  the 
lower  levels  a  portion  of  spiritual  experience. 
It  seems  as  if  an  element  of  immortality  is 
only  to  be  gained  at  a  certain  height  of  the 
spiritual  life.  On  all  levels  below,  men  seek 
for  proofs  in  the  analogies  of  Nature,  in  the 
supposed  return  of  the  spirits  of  the  dead,  and 
in  the  craving  found  in  their  own  lives.  All 
these  proofs  have  one  thing  in  common :  they 

1  The  Truth  of  Religion,  p.  431. 


CHARACTERISTIC   RELIGION  163 

are  all  of  a  lower  order  of  value  than  the  mean- 
ing which  the  content  of  experience  gives  to 
immortality  on  its  highest  level.  For  at  this 
highest  level  the  proof  is  not  something  hap- 
pening outside  the  man  ;  it  is  the  deepest  part 
of  his  own  being  which  now  actually  possesses 
a  taste  of  life  eternal.  It  seems,  then,  that  there 
is  no  answer  to  the  problem  outside  ourselves, 
because  it  is  not  something  to  be  known,  but 
something  to  be  experienced  after  long  toil  and 
a  stirring  of  the  nature  to  its  lowest  depths  in 
the  drift  of  all  that  is  highest  and  best.1  It  is 
sufficient  for  us  to  possess  a  life  which  is  spirit- 
ual and  timeless  in  its  nature :  and  when  such 
a  life  is  possessed,  empirical  proofs  are  neither 
demanded  nor  desired.  It  is  within  one's  own 
new  and  spiritual  world  that  proofs  are  now 
discovered,  and  they  are  timeless  and  spaceless 
in  their  own  intrinsic  nature.  "  Do  this,  and 
thou  shalt  live."  If  the  man  has  to  negate  all 
concerning  the  preservation  of  his  natural  in- 
dividuality, the  new  world  he  has  gained  for 
his  soul  will  have  abundant  affirmation  within 
itself,  without  the  support  of  any  earthly  props. 
It  is  his  own  highest  life  which  testifies  to  him 
that  "  death  does  not  count"  at  all. 

Eucken's  whole  plea  is  that  spiritual  life  at 
the  point  of  its  highest  manifestation  should 
not  be  interpreted  by  anything  below  itself. 

1  I  cannot  but  believe  that  the  supposed  proofs  brought 
forward  by  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  and  others  are  so  empirical  as 
to  be  of  very  little  value  to  religion. 


164  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

We  have  already  noticed  how,  on  lower  levels, 
spiritual  life  was  even  there  interpreted  by  its 
norms,  and  not  by  its  connections  with  what 
was  below  itself.  The  disappearance  of  miracle 
in  religion  is  an  indispensable  stage  which 
must  be  passed  over.  It  is  necessary  only  on 
a  mid-level  of  religion,  and  has  really  been  far 
more  of  the  nature  of  a  symbol  than  of  a  fact. 
It  is  at  our  peril  that  in  religion  we  give  up  such 
a  symbol  until  a  more  "  inward  wonder "  has 
happened  within  our  own  soul.  When  the  self- 
subsistence  of  the  spiritual  life  and  the  reality 
of  the  norms  of  the  over-world,  now  all  united 
in  God,  are  experienced,  all  miraculous  mani- 
festations of  the  Divine,  imaginary  or  real,  are 
relegated  to  a  secondary  place.  They  all  be- 
long to  a  point  which  the  man  has  passed ; 
they  are  milestones  to  which  he  can  never 
return.  "An  evil  and  adulterous  generation 
seeketh  after  a  sign ;  and  there  shall  no  sign 
be  given  to  it  but  the  sign  of  Jonah  the 
prophet."  As  Eucken  points  out,  "  This  is  no 
other  than  the  sign  of  spiritual  power  and  of 
a  Divine  message  and  greatness."  The  move- 
ment from  signs  and  miracles  is  a  movement 
from  the  outward  to  the  inward,  from  percept 
to  spirituality ;  and  the  essence  of  religion,  as 
a  reality  in  itself  and  as  an  experience  of  the 
soul,  is  to  be  found  by  taking  such  a  step. 
The  centre  of  gravity  of  life  has  now  been 
shifted  from  the  outward  to  the  inward.  To 
accomplish  this  means  nothing  less  than  a 


CHARACTERISTIC   RELIGION  165 

struggle  for  the  governing  centre  of  life.  Un- 
less we  succeed  in  this  struggle,  the  inner  life 
will  reach  no  independence  and  subsistence 
of  its  own.  Even  when  the  struggle  succeeds 
in  gaining  its  longed-for  depth,  it  has  not  re- 
moved for  once  and  for  all  the  contradictions 
from  without  and  within.  Difficulties,  from 
the  lower  side,  will  accompany  the  spiritual  life 
in  its  higher  evolution,  but  once  it  has  be- 
come conscious  of  its  own  Divine  nature  and 
certainty  it  will  gain  sufficiently  in  content 
and  power  to  relegate  them  all  to  the  periphery. 
Something  has  happened  within  the  soul  which 
can  never  be  obliterated.  As  Eucken  says : 
"  The  contradiction  is  now  removed  from  the 
centre  to  the  periphery  of  life  ;  it  can  therefore 
only  touch  us  from  without,  and  is  not  able  to 
overthrow  what  is  within  ;  it  will  not  so  much 
weaken  as  strengthen  the  certainty,  because  it 
calls  life  to  a  perpetual  renewal  and  brings  to 
fruition  the  greatness  of  the  conquest." 

1  The  Truth  of  Religion,  p.  533. 


"  i 


CHAPTER  X 

THE    HISTORICAL    RELIGIONS 

WE  have  noticed  in  the  two  preceding  chapters 
how  Eucken  distinguished  the  two  stages  of 
religion — the  "  Universal "  and  the  "  Character- 
istic"— and  how  he  showed  the  necessity  of  both 
stages.  As  man  cannot  escape  from  the  con- 
clusions of  his  intellect,  it  becomes  necessary 
for  him  to  come  to  an  understanding  with 
those  conclusions ;  and  although  such  con- 
clusions do  not  form  a  complete  account  of 
life  in  its  deepest  aspects,  still  they  are  in- 
dispensable for  him  in  order  to  know  that  he 
is  on  the  path  towards  a  further  development 
of  his  spiritual  nature.  Hence  the  grounds  of 
religion  have  to  be  emphasised  by  the  con- 
clusions of  the  intellect.  But  though  intel- 
lectual conclusions,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
warrant  us  in  holding  fast  to  the  presence  and 
reality  of  a  life  of  the  spirit  and  to  the  possi- 
bility of  an  evolution  of  such  a  life,  all  this 
does  not  mean  that  such  an  evolution  is 
actually  reached  through  the  affirmations  of 

166 


THE   HISTORICAL  RELIGIONS         167 

the  intellect.  The  road  of  spiritual  develop- 
ment is  marked  out,  but  we  have  to  travel 
over  that  road  ourselves.  Something  more 
than  an  intellectual  acknowledgment  of  the 
existence  of  such  a  road  is  necessary  before 
the  actual  movement  takes  place.  When  the 
actual  movement  does  take  place,  when  the 
intellectual  conclusions  come  in  contact  with 
a  will  arising  from  our  deepest  needs,  the 
matter  becomes  personal — it  becomes  some- 
thing that  has  to  be  affirmed  by  the  blending 
of  intellect  with  the  deeper  spiritual  potencies. 
The  vision  at  this  higher  stage  constitutes  not 
only  the  certainty  of  a  path  for  man — a  path 
which  leads  to  higher  regions  —  but  brings 
forth  hidden  energies  in  order  to  start  him  on 
the  enterprise.  The  whole  vision  is  now  seen 
to  be  possible  of  realisation  only  through 
personal  decisions  of  the  whole  nature  in 
the  direction  of  the  over-personal  values 
which  present  themselves.  These  over-personal 
values  increase  as  the  soul  passes  along  the 
upward  path  and  as  it  grants  a  self-subsistence 
and  unconditional  significance  to  these  values. 
There  follows  here  an  increase  of  spiritual  re- 
flection ;  the  content  of  the  vision  is  loosened 
from  sense  and  time ;  its  self-subsistence 
becomes  more  and  more  real  and  more  and 
more  and  more  different  from  all  that  was 
experienced  on  any  level  below ;  knowledge 
steps  into  the  background,  and  love  and  ap- 
preciation now  guide  the  whole  movement  of 


168  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

the  soul.  As  we  have  already  seen,  when  this 
happens,  the  idea  of  God  as  Infinite  Love 
presents  itself,  and  the  soul's  main  task  is  to 
climb  to  the  summits  "  where  on  the  glimmer- 
ing limits  far  withdrawn  God  made  Himself  an 
awful  rose  of  dawn."  Religion  is  at  such  a 
level  more  than  an  intellectual  insistence  upon 
its  grounds ;  the  soul  looks  now  rather  to  its 
summits.  Hence  the  two  stages  of  Universal 
and  Characteristic  religion  become  necessary. 
And  it  is  not  always  true  that  the  Universal 
mode  ceases  once  the  Characteristic  mode  is 
partially  realised.  The  soul  has  to  descend 
from  the  heights  into  the  ordinary  world 
below.  And  as  it  now  sees  the  world  with 
new  eyes,  it  sees  much  more  to  be  condemned 
than  was  previously  possible  for  it  to  see. 
There  comes  the  constant  need  of  certifying 
the  validity  of  its  experience  on  the  heights, 
and  of  getting  others  who  have  never  attempted 
the  experiment  to  do  so.  The  man  possessed 
of  something  of  the  vision  within  his  own  soul 
proclaims  his  "gospel,,"  and  conceives  of  all 
kinds  of  ways  and  means  by  which  humanity 
can  be  drawn  towards  the  same  goal. 

This  is  the  meaning  which  Eucken  attaches 
to  the  origin  and  development  of  the  union 
of  universal  and  specific  religions  as  these 
have  been  revealed  in  human  history.  The 
intellectual  grounds  of  religion  as  well  as 
something  of  the  actual  spiritual  experiences 
are  presented  by  the  founders.  Every  kind  of 


THE   HISTORICAL  RELIGIONS         169 

religion  has  originated  in  this  manner.  They 
are  all  attempts  at  showing  that  a  here  and 
now  and  a  beyond  have  united  and  become 
potencies  of  life,  and  can  become  actualities. 
The  here  and  now  always  points  to  a  beyond, 
and  the  beyond,  when  it  is  realised,  returns  to 
the  here  and  now  and  always  transforms  it. 
Thus,  we  are  in  the  midst  of  two  worlds  which 
are  continuous  with  one  another  just  as  the 
valley  is  continuous  with  the  base  of  the 
mountain. 

Such  historical  religions  do  not,  then, 
originate  in  the  collective  experiences  of 
humanity,  but  in  what  has  actually  happened 
in  the  life  of  unique  personalities.  These 
personalities  have  become,  as  it  were,  mediators 
between  God  and  man.  Such  religions  adopt 
the  most  diverse  forms,  because  the  person- 
alities have  given  of  the  content  of  their  own 
personal  experiences,  and  no  two  experiences 
view  anything  from  standpoints  precisely 
identical.  The  historical  religions  may  con- 
sequently be  narrow  in  their  outlook.  The 
personalities  are  dependent  upon  their  race, 
place,  training,  and  inheritance  for  the 
particular  intellectual  presentation  of  their 
religion.  Thus,  each  historical  religion  has  its 
own  view  of  the  universe  and  its  own  morality. 
But  the  value  of  no  historical  religion  is  to  be 
judged  from  this  standpoint  alone.  Such 
views  of  the  universe  and  such  morality  must 
have  appeared  to  them  somehow  as  a  good — as 


170  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

ways  and  means  to  what  lay  beyond.  We  may 
have  outgrown  such  ways  and  means ;  other 
ways  and  means  higher  in  their  nature  may  have 
become  our  inheritance.  But  these  higher 
ways  and  means  could  not  have  evolved  out  of 
their  lower  stages  had  not  some  element  of  the 
beyond  instilled  itself  into  them.  The  historical 
religions  could  never  have  flourished  on  im- 
morality and  superstition,  however  much  of 
these  we  may  discover  in  them.  It  is  the 
beyond,  over-personal  element  which  has  kept 
them  alive,  and  this  element  has  always  had  a 
hard  struggle  to  overcome  and  transform  the 
here-and-now  elements.  Whenever  the  his- 
torical religions  are  traced  back  to  their 
sources,  there  is  discovered  an  element  above 
the  world  in  the  souls  of  their  founders  and  of 
their  immediate  followers.  As  Eucken  puts 
it :  "  To  these  founders  the  new  kingdom  was 
no  vague  outline  and  no  feeble  hope,  but  all 
stood  clear  in  front  of  them ;  the  kingdom 
was  so  real  to  their  souls  and  filled  them  so 
exclusively  that  the  whole  sensuous  world  was 
reduced  by  them  to  a  semblance  and  a  shadow 
if  they  could  not  otherwise  gain  a  new  value 
from  a  superior  power.  The  new  world  could 
attain  to  such  immediacy  and  impressiveness 
only  because  a  regal  imagination  wrestled  for 
a  unique  picture  in  the  tangled  heap  of  life, 
and  because  it  invested  this  picture  with  the 
clearest  outlines  and  the  most  vivid  colours. 
Thus  the  new  world  dawns  on  humanity  with 


THE   HISTORICAL  RELIGIONS         171 

fascinating  power,  rousing  it  out  of  the  slug- 
gishness of  daily  routine,  binding  it  through  a 
corporate  aim,  raising  inspiring  ardour  through 
radiant  promises  and  terrible  threats,  and 
creating  achievements  otherwise  impossible. 
This  prepared  road  into  the  kingdom  of  the 
invisible,  this  creation  of  a  new  reality  which 
is  no  merely  serene  kind  of  play  but  a  deep 
seriousness,  this  inversion  of  worlds  which 
pushes  sensuous  existence  down  into  a  distance 
and  which  prepares  a  home  for  man  within 
the  kingdom  of  faith — all  this  is  the  greatest 
achievement  that  has  ever  been  undertaken 
and  that  has  ever  worked  upon  human  soil. 
....  Their  works  seemed  to  carry  within 
them  Divine  energies ;  wonders  surrounded 
their  paths;  their  life  and  being  bridged 
securely  the  gulf  between  heaven  and  earth."1 
Now,  Eucken  shows  that  it  is  of  great 
importance  to  acknowledge  these  personalities 
in  order  that  life  may  be  brought  into  a  safe 
track.  Enough,  has  already  been  said  of  the 
impossibity  of  finding  a  sufficiency  for  life  and 
death  within  the  span  of  ordinary  existence. 
And  as  this  is  so,  a  whole  span  of  past  and 
present  has  to  be  taken  into  account.  The 
world  cannot  move  a  step  towards  the  heights 
of  the  future  without  this.  The  real  future 
is  the  blend  of  what  was  and  is  forming  the 
standard  and  the  receptacle  for  what  is  to  be. 
We  have  already  noticed  how  such  a  standard 

1   The  Truth  of  Religion,  pp.  367,  368. 


172  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

evolves ;  and  how,  when  it  is  followed  to  its 
utmost  limits,  it  merges  into  the  conception  of 
God.  But  as  all  this  is  a  conception  spiritual 
in  its  nature — devoid  of  flesh  and  blood  as  its 
clothing — it  becomes  extremely  difficult  for 
the  majority  of  mankind  to  hold  fast  to  its 
reality  in  a  world  where  flesh  and  blood  mean 
so  much.  Something  more  tangible  is  craved 
for  by  man  as  a  proof  of  an  over- world  and 
of  an  over-personal  life.  Such  proof  men 
are  able  to  obtain  in  the  great  religious 
personalities  of  the  world  without  having  to 
go  through  the  intellectual  processes  of  dis- 
covering the  grounds  of  religion.  Men  are 
able  to  view  this  spiritual  truth  as  they  view  a 
picture.  It  becomes  easy  to  understand  how 
such  personalities  have  been  raised  beyond  all 
human  valuations  to  a  likeness  to  God  and 
even  to  an  equality  with  God.  Such  per- 
sonalities were  the  highest  conceptions  which 
men  could  possess  of  the  Godhead.  This 
seems  to  have  been  a  necessary  stage  in  the 
evolution  of  the  religious  life  as  well  as  of 
religious  conceptions.  And  even  to  -  day 
attention  is  not  to  be  diverted  from  such 
personalities.  The  question  whether  they 
were  or  were  not  gods  has  become  meaningless. 
What  psychology  is  able  to  fathom  the  soul  of 
any  individual  ?  Every  attempt  at  doctrinal 
formulation  states  less  than  was  present 
within  the  souls  of  such  personalities.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  does  seem  necessary, 


THE   HISTORICAL   RELIGIONS         173 

according  to  Eucken's  teaching,  to  avoid  con- 
fusing such  personalities  with  the  All.  They 
were  great ;  they  possessed  elements  above  the 
world  ;  but  none  of  them  possessed  the  whole 
that  is  in  existence. 

The  truth  concerning  these  founders  of 
religion  seems  to  lie  in  the  fact  that  they 
realised  a  depth  of  life  beyond  the  world,  the 
intellect,  and  the  span  of  ordinary  life.  It  is 
this  fact  that  needs  to  be  brought  prominently 
forward  in  our  day.  And  such  a  fact  becomes 
an  experimental  proof  of  the  presence  and 
efficacy  of  the  Divine  within  the  soul  and 
points  to  an  upward  direction  the  total- 
movement  of  the  world.  If  such  a  fact  does 
not  succeed  in  holding  for  itself  a  primary 
place,  other  subsidiary  facts  will  colour  and 
weaken  its  true  spiritual  content  and  value. 
This  is  the  road  on  which  speculative  and 
superstitious  ideas  have  found  an  entrance 
into  the  historical  religions.  When  such  is 
the  case,  the  spiritual  reality  is  gradually 
weakened,  is  lowered  to  the  level  of  intel- 
lectualistic  dogma,  until  it  ultimately  becomes, 
though  in  the  guise  of  religion,  the  worst 
enemy  which  spiritual  religion  has  to  en- 
counter. All  hard  and  fixed  dogmatic  settings 
of  religion  usurp  the  supremacy  of  the  spiritual 
life  itself. 

Eucken  shows  this  in  connection  with  re- 
ligious institutions — institutions  which  were 
meant  by  their  founders  to  be  essential  but 


174  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

still  subservient  to  the  needs  and  aspirations 
of  spiritual  life.  Thus,  genuine  religion  is 
measured  by  a  doctrinal  standard  or  by  a  sacra- 
ment. These  may  possess  an  incalculable 
value  in  religion,  when  used  as  means  and  not 
as  ends ;  but  they  may,  and  often  do,  issue 
in  its  degradation  to  a  stage  which  is  hardly 
a  spiritual  one.  Every  historical  religion 
possesses  some  absolute  truth,  but  does  not 
possess  the  whole  truth ;  and  also  each 
historical  religion  possesses  some  elements 
which  have  to  pass  away.  But  this  matter 
will  be  dealt  with  in  a  later  chapter. 

The  main  service  of  the  historical  religions  is 
to  bring  home  to  us  the  fact  that  in  the  course 
of  human  history  a  spiritual  life  above  the 
world  has  again  and  again  dawned  on  mankind 
through  the  experiences  and  works  of  great 
personalities.  To  realise  intensely  such  a  fact 
is  to  realise  the  fact  that  all  this  can  happen 
again  in  a  more  concentrated  form  than  is 
actually  presented  in  the  slow  and  toilsome 
effects  of  the  results  of  the  collective  life  of 
the  community. 

It  may  be  well  to  refer  here  to  Eucken's 
classification  of  the  religions  of  the  world. 
This  classifications  consists  of  the  Religions  of 
Law  and  the  Religions  of  Redemption.  The 
Religions  of  Law  maintain  that  the  kernel  of 
religion  lies  in  "the  announcement  and  advocacy 
of  a  moral  order  which  governs  the  world  from 
on  high."  God  has  revealed  His  will  to  man  ; 


THE   HISTORICAL  RELIGIONS         175 

if  man  obeys,  rich  rewards  await  him  in  a  future 
life  ;  if  he  disobeys,  painful  punishment  is  sure 
to  follow.  Man  himself  has  to  select  one  of 
the  two  alternatives,  and  he  believes  himself 
able  to  choose.  The  Religions  of  Redemption 
consider  such  a  view  false  and  superficial. 
Now,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  Religions  of 
Law  are  stages  which  are  of  value  when  men 
are  incapable  of  grasping  the  difficulties  and 
complexities  of  religion.  The  whole  of  religion 
on  this  level  of  Law  is  a  replica  of  the  rela- 
tions which  obtain  on  a  smaller  scale  between 
a  sovereign  and  his  subjects,  or  between 
a  master  and  his  slave.  Authority  is  some- 
thing purely  external.  The  two  Religions  of 
Redemption — the  Indian  and  the  Christian 
—seek  the  meaning  of  religion  in  a  very 
different  manner.  They  both  agree  that 
human  capability,  which  seems  so  evident  to 
the  Religions  of  Law,  is  the  most  difficult  and 
important  of  all  questions.  They  agree  further 
that  the  essence  of  religion  does  not  consist  in 
guiding  life  for  the  sake  of  something  that  life 
is  to  participate  in  or  to  avoid  in  the  future ; 
they  agree  that  a  change  must  happen  within 
the  soul  in  this  world,  and  that  this  change 
only  comes  about  through  the  aid  of  a  super- 
natural power.  But  these  two  religions  differ 
fundamentally  in  their  different  ways  of  looking 
at  the  world.  To  the  Indian  religions,  the  ex- 
istence of  the  world  is  an  evil;  the  world  is  itself 
a  kingdom  of  illusions.  "  All  in  it  is  transient 


176  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

and  unreal ;  nothing  in  it  has  duration  ;  happi- 
ness and  love  are  merely  momentary,  and  men 
are  as  two  pieces  of  wood  floating  on  the  face 
of  an  infinite  ocean  which  pass  by  one  another, 
never  to  meet  again.  Fruitless  agitation  and 
painful  deception  have  fallen  upon  him  who 
mistakes  such  a  transient  semblance  for  a 
reality  and  who  hangs  his  heart  upon  it. 
Therefore  it  behoves  man  to  free  himself  from 
such  an  unholy  arena.  This  emancipation  will 
take  place  when  the  semblance  is  seen  through 
as  semblance,  and  when  the  soul  has  gained  an 
insight  right  into  the  foundation  of  things. 
Then  the  world  loses  its  power  over  man  ;  the 
whole  kingdom  of  deception  with  its  evanescent 
values  goes  to  the  bottom,  all  the  excited  affec- 
tions caused  by  the  world  are  extinguished,  and 
life  becomes  a  still  and  holy  calm ;  it  reaches 
the  depth  of  a  dreamless  sleep,  enters,  through 
its  immersion  into  an  eternal  essence,  beyond 
the  shadows  ;  it  passes,  according  to  Buddhism 
in  its  most  definite  interpretation,  into  a  state 
of  entire  unconsciousness."1 

How  different  a  spirit  from  all  this  breathes 
in  Christianity  !  In  Christianity  the  world  is 
good  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  it  does  not  go  far 
enough.  Something  of  the  revelation  of  the 
Divine  may  be  discovered  within  it,  but  this  is 
only  a  segment  of  a  greater  whole  which  comes 
to  realisation  within  the  soul.  Here,  the  world 
is  not  cast  away,  despite  all  its  limitations,  but 

1  The  Truth  of  Religion,  pp.  11,  12. 


THE   HISTORICAL  RELIGIONS         177 

is  perceived  as  the  only  sphere  where  spiritual 
experience  may  exercise  itself  and  draw  out 
its  own  hidden  potencies.  Tribulation  is  to  be 
found  in  the  world  ;  but  a  standpoint  above  the 
world,  gained  by  cutting  a  path  right  through 
the  world,  is  possible.  When  such  a  stand- 
point is  reached,  the  world  is  seen  as  it  ought 
to  be  seen  and  used  as  it  ought  to  be  used. 
But  this  aspect  of  the  meaning  of  the  world  in 
the  Christian  religion  will  be  dealt  with  later. 
It  is  sufficient  to  state  here  that  Eucken  con- 
siders Christianity  superior  to  all  other  religions 
by  virtue  of  the  fact  that  it  overcomes  the 
world,  not  by  fleeing  from  it,  but  by  transform- 
ing it.  It  views  the  physical  world  as  a  stage 
upon  which  the  life  of  the  spirit  has  to  realise 
all  its  possibilities ;  the  world  and  all  that  is 
within  it  take  a  secondary  place  :  the  primary 
place  is  now  accorded  to  the  world  of  ideals 
and  values  as  these  merge  into  love  and  the 
conception  of  the  Godhead. 

The  question  of  the  finality  of  the  Christian 
religion  in  its  purely  historical  sense  has  been 
discussed  by  Eucken  in  his  Truth  of  Religion, 
Christianity  and  the  New  Idealism,  and 
Konnen  wir  noch  Christen  sein  ?  In  these 
three  works  he  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that 
no  one  religion  has  a  claim  to  the  name 
"  absolute  religion,"  because  even  Christianity 
itself  cannot  be  more  than  a  partial,  though 
the  highest,  manifestation  of  the  Divine. 
And  what  Christianity  has  been  and  is  in 


178  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

itself  as  a  force  in  the  history  of  the  Western 
world  cannot  be  the  same  as  what  it  was  in 
the  personal  experience  of  its  Founder.  It  is 
not  something  which  descended  once  and 
for  all  into  the  world,  and  so  remains  its  per- 
manent inheritance.  It  is  the  most  priceless 
inheritance  we  possess ;  but  such  an  inherit- 
ance has  to  be  discovered  again  and  again. 
All  this  cannot  come  about  without  calling 
up  to-day  the  same  spiritual  energies  as  were 
needful  for  the  tasks  that  were  present  when 
Christianity  started  to  conquer  the  world. 
Its  aspects  of  "world-denial  and  world-renewal" 
render  Christianity  the  very  religion  we  need. 
"  It  is  the  religion  of  religions,"  but  a  state- 
ment of  this  fact  does  not  mean  the  realisation 
of  the  fact.  The  same  energy  and  aspiration  are 
needful  to-day  as  in  the  days  of  yore.  Chris- 
tianity, whenever  it  has  lived  on  its  highest 
levels,  has  struggled  for  two  tremendous  facts 
at  least :  the  insufficiency  of  the  world  and 
the  regeneration  of  the  world  in  the  light  of 
the  Divine.  It  is  not  a  repetition  of  what  the 
Founder  said  concerning  religion.  What  the 
Founder  said  cost  him  enormous  labour  to  dis- 
cover and  to  possess.  We  shall  gain  so  much 
and  no  more  of  the  same  spiritual  substance  as 
we  put  the  same  kind  of  energy  in  motion.  In 
order  that  we  may  unravel  the  complexities 
of  our  day,  a  spirit  similar  to  his  spirit  must 
become  ours.  When  such  a  spirit  ceases  to 
exist,  Christianity  will  become  merely  a 


THE   HISTORICAL  RELIGIONS         179 

name ;  its  power  will  have  disappeared,  and 
men  can  delude  themselves  into  believing 
that  they  possess  it  when  in  fact  they  are 
the  possessors  of  but  little  of  its  spirit  and  of 
much  of  its  form.  But  the  possession  of  the 
same  spirit  as  that  of  Jesus  constitutes  the 
further  development  of  Christianity,  and  this 
further  development  is  nothing  other  than  what 
we  have  already  seen — the  experience  and 
efficacy  of  an  eternal  order  of  things  in  the 
midst  of  all  the  changes  of  time.  Thus  we 
are  thrown  back  once  more,  not  upon  our 
bare  individual  selves,  but  upon  the  presence 
of  the  Divine  within  the  spiritual  life  itself. 
Christianity  is  therefore  not  something  that 
has  been  completed  in  the  past,  but  the  highest 
mode  of  conceiving  and  of  experiencing  Life 
in  the  present ;  it  becomes  an  inward,  personal 
and  spiritual  experience ;  and  its  duration  and 
expansion  depend  upon  the  increase  and  depth 
of  such  a  spiritual  inwardness. 


CHAPTER  XI 

CHRISTIANITY 

IT  has  been  noticed  how  "  Characteristic  "  or 
"  Specific  "  religion  means  the  carrying  farther 
of  the  implications  of  "Universal"  religion. 
It  is  not  only  necessary  to  know  the  "grounds" 
of  religion,  as  these  reveal  themselves  within 
the  conclusions  of  the  intellect :  we  have  to 
lant  ourselves  upon  these  "grounds" ;  we  must 
e  what  they  mean.  Thus,  religion  becomes 
a  personal  task — something  that  can  never  be 
realised  until  the  whole  nature  comes  to 
constant  decisions  of  its  own  and  acts  upon 
those  decisions  in  the  light  of  what  has 
expressed  itself  in  the  form  of  those  over- 
personal  norms  which  have  further  developed 
into  a  conception  of,  and  communion  with,  the 
Godhead.  We  have  noticed  further,  how  this 
essence  of  religion  was  realised  in  the  lives  of 
great  personalities  in  history,  as  well  as  in  the 
religions  which  they  helped  to  found. 

Eucken  does  not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  the 
highest   of    these  religions   is    the    Christian 

1 80 


CHRISTIANITY  181 

religion.  The  core  of  the  Christian  religion 
consists,  as  we  have  already  noticed,  in  its 
presentation  of  "a  world-denial  and  world- 
renewal  "  in  a  far  higher  degree  than  any  of 
the  other  religions,  and  also  in  the  fact  that  it 
presents  the  union  of  the  human  and  the 
Divine  in  a  clearer  light  than  before.  We 
have  noticed,  too,  how  the  Indian  religions 
had  to  condemn  the  world  in  order  to  penetrate 
to  the  very  essence  and  bliss  of  religion. 
Mohammedanism  affirmed  the  world  in  too 
strong  a  mariner,  and  its  eternal  world  con- 
stituted a  kind  of  replica  of  the  present 
material  world  on  an  enlarged  scale.  The 
Jewish  religion  evolved  through  a  series  of 
stages  which  finally  culminated  in  Christianity. 
The  Roman  and  the  Greek  religions  presented 
too  many  pluralistic  aspects  to  be  able  ever  to 
reach  the  highest  synthesis  whereby  the  Many 
found  their  meaning,  interpretation,  and  value 
in  the  One. 

Although  the  Christian  religion  cannot  be 
designated  as  absolute  religion,  still  it  may  be 
designated  as  the  highest  and  most  perfect 
manifestation  of  the  Divine.  The  meaning  of 
the  term  "  absolute  religion  "  involves  a  con- 
ception impossible  to  maintain,  on  account  of 
the  fact  that  in  all  religions  some  spiritual  truth 
is  discerned  and  realised.  The  term  "  absolute 
religion  "  is  also  false  on  account  of  the  fact 
that  no  religion  can  contain  the  whole  that  is 
to  be  revealed  and  experienced.  Christianity 


182  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

is  best  valued  when  it  is  seen,  not  as  a  comple- 
tion of  the  revelation  of  the  Divine  to  man, 
but  as  a  revelation  which  has  to  be  preserved, 
deepened,  and  carried  farther.  In  the  soul  of 
the  Founder  of  Christianity  there  was  doubt- 
less present  far  more  than  is  expressed  in  the 
Biblical  records,  and  far  more  than  actually 
filtered  into  the  individual  and  collective  con- 
sciousness of  the  earliest  Christian  communi- 
ties. But  we  cannot  live  on  what  has  occurred 
in  the  life  of  any  other  individual  or  community 
except  in  so  far  as  this  enters  also  into  our  own 
individual  and  the  collective  consciousness. 
We  have  already  touched  on  this  aspect  of  the 
impossibility  of  obtaining  sufficient  strength 
for  the  warfare  of  the  present  in  anything  that 
occurred  in  the  past.  Some  measure  of  strength 
—and  no  psychology  is  able  to  say  how  much 
—can  be  obtained  from  a  vision  of  the  spiritual 
meaning  and  significance  of  the  life  of  the 
Founder.  But  there  is  very  great  danger  in 
looking  here  alone  for  the  sole  source  of  all 
the  help  we  need.  The  spiritual  principles  of 
Christianity  have  been  operating  in  the  world 
ever  since  the  Master  presented  the  Gospel 
which  he  lived  and  died  for.  The  problem  of 
Christianity  is  thus  a  twofold  problem.  On 
the  one  hand,  we  have  constantly  to  go  back 
to  the  Fountain-head,  because  it  is  here  that 
the  stream  is  purest.  But  we  have,  on  the 
other  hand,  to  enter  into  the  religious  current 
which  surrounds  us ;  and  this  may  be  not  so 


CHRISTIANITY  183 

pure  as  it  was  at  its  source.  Alien  waters 
have  entered  into  the  current — waters  of  very 
different  taste  from  those  which  even  the 
Founder  expected.  These  have  doubtless 
polluted  the  stream.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
good  elements — primary  and  secondary — have 
entered  into  the  deepest  nature  of  Chris- 
tianity itself.  These  have  to  be  taken  into 
account.  They  have  been  necessitated  by  the 
new  and  ever  more  complex  situations  and 
conditions  into  which  Christianity  has  had  to 
enter  from  generation  to  generation.  It  was 
comparatively  easy  for  Christianity  in  its  early 
beginnings  to  include  within  its  compass  the 
whole  of  life.  But  by  to-day  life  has  branched 
off  in  so  many  new  directions ;  perplexing 
problems  of  knowledge  and  life  have  made 
their  appearance.  We  dare  not  dismiss  these 
to  a  region  outside  the  sphere  of  influence  of 
Christianity.  Christianity,  if  it  is  to  remain 
and  increase  as  a  living  force,  has  to  interpret 
these  problems  ;  it  has  to  help  us  to  distinguish 
between  the  chaff  and  the  wheat. 

What,  then,  is  the  true  meaning  of  Chris- 
tianity ?  Eucken  shows  that  it  is  not  possible 
to  determine  the  nature  of  Christianity  with- 
out realising  that  the  nucleus  common  to  all 
religions  lies  in  the  fact  "  that  they  manifest 
and  represent  a  Divine  Life,  and  that  such  a 
Life  in  its  inmost  foundation  is  superior  to  its 
external  configuration  and  activity,  and  is  able 
to  withstand  all  the  changes  of  time,  and  to 


184  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

maintain  within  itself,  in  spite  of  all  its  curtail- 
ment through  the  human  situation,  an  eternal 
truth"  This  nucleus  lies  deeper  in  Christianity 
than  in  any  other  religion.  But  even  Chris- 
tianity itself  is  not  a  pure  spiritual  nucleus. 
Much,  as  we  have  already  noticed,  has  gathered 
around  it — much  that  reveals  a  lower  grade 
of  spirituality.  All  this  constitutes  the  cloth- 
ing of  Christianity.  The  clothing  has  been 
changed  again  and  again  in  the  past.  What 
reason  is  there  for  affirming  that  it  cannot  be 
changed  again  ?  It  is  therefore  necessary  to 
differentiate  between  the  Substance  of  Christi- 
anity and  its  Existential-form.  The  Substance 
constitutes  the  fundamental  Life  superior  to  the 
world,  and  has  been  present  throughout  the 
whole  of  the  Christian  era ;  and  it  is  this  Sub- 
stance which  has  raised  men  beyond  the  merely 
human  situation  ;  it  is  the  Substance  that  has 
enabled  men  to  overcome  the  world,  and 
afterwards  to  see  the  world  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  Divine.  In  this  work  of  differ- 
entiation we  are  dependent  in  a  very  large 
measure  upon  the  results  of  knowledge.  Such 
results  do  not  grant  us  the  Substance  of  Christi- 
anity, because  this  is  something  which  has  to 
be  lived  into  in  order  to  be  possessed.  The 
transformation  which  occurs  on  account  of  a 
change  in  the  Existential-form  may  indeed 
prove  helpful  to  the  spiritual  nucleus  itself, 
because  it  represents  a  truth  of  the  intellect— 
a  truth  which  does  not  conflict  with  any 


CHRISTIANITY  185 

knowledge  outside  its  own  sphere.  There 
are  many  dangers  to  be  discovered  in  this 
process  of  interpreting  the  spiritual  nucleus. 
A  mode  of  interpretation  whose  meaning  has 
very  largely  passed  away  is  bound  to  prove 
injurious,  because  it  comes  into  sharp  conflict 
with  a  newer  and  more  comprehensive  mean- 
ing, and  consequently  Christianity  fails  to  win 
the  support  of  those  who  are  acquainted  with 
the  new  Existential-form.  And  even  the 
individual  who  retains  the  old  clothing,  and 
looks  upon  it  as  being  something  of  the  same 
nature  as  the  spiritual  nucleus,  is  in  danger  of 
basing  a  portion  of  his  religion  on  a  foundation 
of  sand.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  he  who  is 
aware  of  the  flaws  of  the  old  Existential-form 
without  having  assimilated  the  Spiritual  Sub- 
stance which  lies  beneath  it,  is  in  danger  of 
drifting  from  religion  altogether.  The  only 
way  of  serving  best  and  carrying  farther  the 
development  of  the  Christian  religion  is  to 
grasp  and  experience  deeply  the  fact  that 
the  Spiritual  Substance  is  something  entirely 
different  from  its  form  of  existence.  Its  form 
of  existence  is  an  attempt  to  account  for  the 
Substance  ;  it  consists  of  intellectual  concepts. 
And  as  with  everything  else  in  this  world  so 
with  religion ;  mere  intellectual  concepts 
change,  and  cannot  be  more  than  receptacles 
used  by  the  human  mind  to  enshrine  the  things 
which  are  presented  as  meanings  and  values 
within  the  soul. 


186  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

Eucken  pays  great  attention  to  the  necessity 
of  this  process  of  differentiation  between  the 
two  elements  in  Christianity.  There  is  a  need 
to-day  of  a  new  form  of  existence  for  Chris- 
tianity ;  but  the  satisfaction  of  this  need  will 
not  grant  us  the  spiritual  nucleus  itself.  The 
spiritual  nucleus  is  something  to  be  gained 
not  by  means  of  knowledge,  but  by  means  of 
love.  Eucken  goes  so  far  as  to  state  that  the 
idea  of  love  and  love  of  one's  enemy  as  pre- 
sented in  Christianity  forms  a  new  element  for 
the  redemption  of  the  individual  and  of  the 
race.  To  grasp  this  idea  and  to  penetrate  into 
its  nature  is  to  solve  all  the  problems  of  life 
and  death.  This  is  the  Eternal  element  in  the 
Christian  religion.  It  is  found,  it  is  true,  in 
other  religions  ;  but  why  should  we  look  for  it 
elsewhere  when  it  blossomed  with  such  divine 
glory  in  the  life  of  the  Founder  ?  This  is  the 
highest  spiritual  synthesis  conceivable.  The 
world  has  known  nothing  greater,  and  nothing 
greater  is  to  be  known.  This  is  the  Eternal 
element  in  Christianity  which  has  to  be  pos- 
sessed and  preserved  and  furthered.  If  we 
ask  the  question  concerning  the  success  or 
failure  of  Christianity  in  the  future,  the  answer 
is  to  be  found  by  answering  the  question,  Is 
Love  to  God  and  Love  to  man  found  within 
it  to-day  ?  If  we  are  able  to  answer  in  the 
affirmative,  we  are  thereby  answering  the 
question  in  regard  to  the  future  duration  and 
conquests  of  Christianity.  And  if  it  possesses 


CHRISTIANITY  187 

this  element  deeply  enough,  it  can  adopt  any 
existential-form  which  appears  true  without 
any  kind  of  alarm.  If  we  have  to  answer 
in  the  negative,  there  is  no  guarantee  as  to 
persistence  of  Christianity  in  the  future. 
Anything  less  than  the  spiritual  nucleus  of 
Love  is  lacking  in  strength  necessary  to  with- 
stand the  storms  of  the  future. 

We  thus  see  that  the  essence  of  Christianity 
and  its  durability  do  not  lie  in  any  kind  of 
theology  :  it  lies  within  the  Spiritual  Substance 
which  has  abode  within  it  throughout  the 
centuries.  Here  will  the  world  find  its  peace 
and  power  ;  here  will  all  social  complexities  be 
solved ;  here  will  the  meanings  and  blessings 
of  the  spiritual  over- world  of  goodness  and  love 
become  the  possession  of  man.  This  is  what 
Eucken  means  by  contending  that  it  is  not  the 
business  of  Christianity  to  deal  with  social 
problems  in  any  light  but  the  light  of  Infinite 
Love.  Without  an  experience  of  this  deepest 
source  of  Christianity,  we  do  not  possess  the 
equipment  for  doing  anything  more  than 
patching  and  re-patching  the  evils  of  the  world. 
And  all  our  patching,  when  but  a  small  span 
of  time  has  passed  away,  will  leave  the  situa- 
tion just  as  it  was,  or  probably  worse.  Every 
solution  will  give  birth  to  a  new  complexity ; 
the  world  may  be  incessantly  active  in 
connection  with  the  betterment  of  the  social 
situation,  but  we  shall  never  heal  the  wounds 
of  individuals  and  of  nations  until  they  are 


188  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

brought  to  the  depth  of  the  spiritual  life 
revealed  in  Christianity  as  Eternal  Love.  "  A 
warm  love  towards  all  humanity  runs  through 
Christianity;  it  longs  to  redeem  every  in- 
dividual ;  it  gives  man  a  value  beyond  all 
special  achievements  and  on  the  other  side  of 
all  mental  and  moral  deeds ;  it  has  been  the 
first  to  bring  the  pure  inwardness  of  the  soul 
to  a  clear  expression.  But  it  has  also,  through 
the  linking  of  the  human  to  a  Divine  and 
Eternal  Order,  raised  life  beyond  all  that  is 
trivial  and  merely  human  with  its  civic 
ordinances  and  social  interests.  He  who,  with 
the  best  intention,  views  Christianity  as  a  mere 
means  for  the  betterment  of  the  social  situation, 
draws  it  from  the  heights  of  its  nature,  and 
deprives  it  of  the  main  constituent  of  its 
greatness — the  emancipation  from  the  petty- 
human  within  the  depths  of  the  human  itself. 
It  is  essentially  the  nature  of  Christianity 
that  it  transplants  man  into  a  new  world 
over  against  the  world  that  is  nearest  to  our 
hands ;  it  has  planted  the  fundamental  con- 
viction of  Platonism  of  the  existence  of  an 
Eternal  Order  over  against  the  world  of  Time 
amongst  a  great  portion  of  the  human  race, 
and  has  given  a  mighty  impetus  to  all  effort. 
But  it  has,  though  it  separated  the  Eternal 
from  Time,  brought  it  back  again  into  Time ; 
and  through  the  presence  of  the  Eternal  it  has, 
for  the  first  time,  proposed  to  mankind  and  to 
each  individual  a  fundamental  inner  renewal, 


CHRISTIANITY  189 

and  through   this  has  inaugurated  a  genuine 
history."1 

Acknowledging  such  a  nucleus  as  constitut- 
ing the  very  substance  of  Christianity,  Eucken 
proceeds  to  show  the  necessity  of  preserving 
and  unfolding  the  nucleus  against  the  changes 
of  Time.  The  nucleus  has  to  be  preserved 
over  against  Nature.  It  has  been  noticed  in 
previous  chapters  how  modern  science  has  pre- 
sented us  with  a  view  of  Nature  immensely 
vaster  than  that  presented  in  Christian 
theology.  Such  a  view  has  destroyed  for 
ever  a  large  number  of  the  theological  con- 
ceptions of  the  past.  The  earth  has  been 
reduced  to  a  subsidiary  place  within  the 
cosmos ;  and  any  attempt  to  return  to  the 
old  conceptions  is  bought  at  too  high  a  price. 
A  new  mode  of  thought  in  regard  to  the 
interpretation  of  the  physical  universe  has 
come  to  stay,  and  the  sooner  the  Christian 
Church  comes  to  an  understanding  with  it 
the  better  for  the  Church  itself.  And  this 
new  mode  may  be  gladly  accepted,  because 
it  cannot  touch  the  nature  and  destiny  of  the 
soul  of  man.  We  are  not  able  to  view  the 
perfect  circle  of  things,  but  we  are  able  to 

1  The  Truth  of  Religion,  p.  545.  It  is  on  this  fact  that 
Eucken  builds  his  conception  of  immortality.  Such  a 
conception  is  not  a  matter  of  speculation  or  of  scientific 
proof,  but  a  matter  of  an  experience  born  on  the  summit 
of  the  evolution  of  spiritual  life  within  the  soul.  It  is 
useless  to  attempt  to  press  such  an  experience  into  a 
conceptual  mould. 


190  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

trace  a  segment  of  it  in  the  fact  of  the 
unmistakably  cosmic  character  of  the  spiritual 
life.  The  progressive  intensifying  of  the  Life- 
process  has  made  the  fact  abundantly  clear 
that  Nature  is  not  the  final  reality  it  was 
supposed  to  be  by  the  scientific  mode  of  the 
past,  but  that  it  signifies  no  more  than  a 
"human  vista  of  reality."  And,  as  we  have 
already  observed  in  connection  with  the 
Theory  of  Knowledge,  the  nature  of  that 
"  vista "  is  determined  by  a  mental  process 
and  a  construction  beyond  Nature.  Nature 
appears  as  no  more  than  an  environment  when 
once  the  power  of  Eternal  Life  has  appeared 
within  the  soul.  An  insistence  on  this  power 
and  its  capacity  has  raised  man  to  a  level  from 
which  he  recognises  the  "priority  of  spirit" 
in  spite  of  all  the  "  palpableness  of  sensuous 
impressions."  Man  thus  appears  great  as 
against  Nature;  but  there  is  more  than 
enough  to  make  him  humble  when  he  views 
himself  in  the  light  of  that  truth  which 
constitutes  the  Spiritual  and  Eternal  Sub- 
stance of  Christianity. 

Not  only  do  we  find  the  two  different 
elements  present  in  the  Christianity  of  our 
day ;  they  are  also  apparent  in  the  presenta- 
tion of  Christianity  found  within  the  Gospels 
themselves.  The  miraculous  elements  in  the 
Gospels  exhibit  a  number  of  contradictions ; 
and  an  even  more  serious  objection  to  them 
is  the  fact  that  they  come  into  direct  conflict 


CHRISTIANITY  191 

with  the  scientific  interpretation  of  Nature. 
As  Eucken  says  :  "  To  place  a  miracle  in  that 
one  situation  would  mean  an  overthrow  of  the 
total  order  of  Nature,  as  this  order  has  been 
set  forth  through  the  fundamental  work  of 
modern  investigation  and  through  an  incalcul- 
able fulness  of  experiences.  What  would 
justify  such  a  breach  with  the  total  mode 
of  reality  ought  to  appear  to  us  with  over- 
whelming, indisputable  clearness.  Has  the 
traditional  fact  this  degree  of  certainty,  and 
cannot  it  be  explained  in  any  other  way  ? 
Who  is  able  to  assert  this  with  entire  assur- 
ance ?  If  the  superiority  of  the  Divine  was, 
on  this  particular  occasion,  to  be  proclaimed 
in  a  tangible  manner,  why  did  all  this  happen 
for  a  small  circle  of  believers  alone,  and  why 
did  it  not  happen  to  others?  There  seems, 
however,  to  have  been  necessary  a  certain  state 
of  the  souls  of  the  disciples  to  make  them  see 
what  they  thought  they  saw ;  but  in  all  this 
there  is  found  a  psychic  and  subjective  factor 
in  operation — a  factor  whose  potency  is  very 
difficult  to  define  and  to  mark  its  boundaries. 
It  would  have  been  a  fact  of  a  wonderful 
nature  if  the  souls  of  the  disciples,  from  within, 
became  suddenly  and  without  intermediary 
convinced  of  the  continuation  of  the  life  and 
the  presence  of  the  Master :  all  this  would 
have  been  no  sensuous  miracle — no  break  in 
the  course  of  Nature.  But  we  have  to  bear  in 
mind  how  times  of  strong  religious  agitation  and 


192  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

convulsion  are  so  little  qualified  to  judge  con- 
cerning external  phenomena,  and  how  easily  a 
psychic  state  solidifies  into  a  supposed  percept ! 
Within  and  without  Christianity  there  are 
numerous  examples  of  the  sensuous  appearance 
of  a  dead  person  being  considered  to  be  fully 
authenticated  by  the  narrower  circle  of  friends. 
Savonarola  appeared  more  than  a  hundred  times 
after  his  death,  but  always  to  those  whose  hearts 
clung  to  him ;  and  to  fifteen  nuns  of  the  con- 
vent of  St  Lucia  he  gave  the  consecrated  wafer 
through  the  opening  in  their  grille"1 

Eucken  shows  that  an  inability  to  accept  the 
miraculous  element  in  the  Gospels  need  not 
prevent  anyone  from  being  the  possessor  of  the 
Spiritual  Substance.  The  spiritual  content  of 
Christianity  is  a  content  which  lies  beyond  the 
region  of  physical  phenomena,  whether  those 
phenomena  are  natural  or  are  supposed  to  be 
supernatural.  Christianity  is  dragged  down 
to  a  lower  level  by  confusing  its  mode  of 
existence  with  its  spiritual  kernel.  Religion 
is  able  to  subsist  without  such  aids  simply 
because  it  has  discovered  the  true  wonder 
within  the  spiritual  life  itself.  We  do  not 
know  what  future  investigations  may  reveal 
from  the  scientific  side.  It  may  be  that 
Nature  will  appear  more  and  more  mechanical 
in  many  of  its  manifestations ;  but  even  if 
this  should  prove  to  be  the  case,  it  can 
produce  no  injury  whatever  to  the  nature 

1   The  Truth  of  Religion,  pp.  550,  551. 


CHRISTIANITY  193 

and  content  of  spiritual  life.  It  may  be,  on 
the  other  hand,  that  the  scientific  movement 
now  proceeding  in  the  direction  of  neo- 
Vitalism  will  produce  results  which  will 
modify  arid  even  overthrow  the  mechanical 
conceptions  of  life,  and  thus  enable  the  future 
to  construct  a  Metaphysic  of  Nature.1  The 
battle  between  these  two  schools  of  science  is 
proceeding  to-day.  But  even  if  the  final  issue 
should  be  a  decision  in  favour  of  mechanism, 
the  destiny  of  Christianity  or  of  the  human 
soul  does  not  depend  upon  such  a  decision. 
If  the  issue  should  turn  in  favour  of  the 
vitalistic  conception,  great  gains  are  bound  to 
accrue  to  religion ;  for  thus  a  warrant  for  a 
belief  in  a  reality  higher  in  nature  than  what  is 
termed  physical  will  be  established  and  shown 
to  be  at  work  in  the  origin  and  constant 
"  becoming "  of  physical  phenomena.  The 
main  point  for  us  to-day  is  to  hold  fast  to  the 
superiority  of  spiritual  life  to  all  that  we  know 
concerning  the  physical  universe.  Unless  this 
is  done,  we  shall  lose  the  deeper  inward  con- 
nections of  life,  and  shall  be  in  danger  of 
sinking  back  to  the  level  of  naturalism — a 
level  from  which  the  culture  and  religion  of 
the  Western  world  have  partially  emerged. 
Further,  the  spiritual  nucleus  of  Christianity 

1  Driesch  is  attempting  the  construction  of  such  a 
Metaphysic  of  Nature,  and  a  similar  attempt  is  to  be 
discovered  in  Bergson's  philosophy,  especially  in  its  later 
developments. 


194  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

must  be  preserved  over  against  the  changes  of 
history.  Changes  in  human  society  threaten 
Christianity  more  directly  than  even  the 
changes  of  Nature.  These  changes,  in  so  far 
as  they  are  judged  by  a  spiritual  standard  to 
be  good,  can  be  accepted  by  Christianity,  but 
only  on  the  presupposition  that  Christianity 
has  learned  how  to  differentiate  between  its 
Eternal  Substance  and  its  temporal  form  of 
existence.  The  mere  flow  of  the  events  of 
Time  is  insufficient  to  produce  a  religion  of 
substance  and  duration,  for  here  we  are 
dependent  upon  the  content  of  the  moment. 
This  aspect  has  been  already  dealt  with  in 
the  chapter  on  Religion  and  History.1  A 
similar  necessity  for  differentiating  between 
the  Eternal  and  the  temporary  which  Eucken 
enforced  in  regard  to  Christianity  applies  in 
his  view  to  all  the  movements  of  the  world. 
Whatever  form  --  scientific,  philosophical, 
social,  theological  —  these  movements  may 
take,  they  have  all  to  find  their  meaning  in 
a  Standard  which  is  Eternal.  Whenever  such 
a  Standard  has  been  recognised,  mankind  was 
able  to  move  in  an  upward  direction ;  when- 
ever it  was  absent,  the  complexities  of  know- 
ledge and  life  increased  and  had  no  light  to 
reflect  upon  themselves,  and  no  power  to 

1  Troeltsch  has  also  emphasised  this  truth  in  his  Absolutkeit 
des  Christentumsund  die  Religions geschichte  and  in  his  Bedeutung 
der  Geschichtlichkeit  Jesu  fur  den  Glauben.  These  two  small 
volumes  are  of  great  value. 


CHRISTIANITY  195 

raise  themselves  to  a  higher  plane.  When 
the  Eternal  and  Substantial  is  present  at  the 
governing  centre  of  life,  all  of  reality  that 
can  possibly  present  itself  to  man  is  viewed 
in  an  entirely  different  light.  Great  spiritual 
movements  cannot  possibly  arise  from  any 
shallower  source.  There  must  be  present  in 
all  such  movements  a  consciousness  of  some- 
thing of  Eternal  value,  and  a  faith  in  the 
possibility  of  attaining  a  higher  grade  of  reality 
in  the  midst  of  all  the  fragmentary  factors 
which  present  themselves.  Religion  is  thus 
viewed  as  a  movement  which  takes  place  not 
by  the  side  of  life,  but  within  life  itself.  A 
power  of  immediacy  grows  within  the  soul ;  it 
is  now  able  to  sift  and  winnow,  to  select  and  to 
reject ;  it  is  able  to  penetrate  into  the  difference 
between  first  and  second  things,  and  to  rele- 
gate all  minor  things  to  their  lower  sphere.1 

It  is  of  no  avail  to  ignore  this  difference ; 
and  neither  is  it  of  any  avail  to  ignore  the 
difference  between  the  old  and  the  new 
existence-forms  of  Christianity.  The  old  and 
the  new  conceptions  cannot  possibly  flow 
together.  One  mode  has  to  take  a  primary 
place,  and  the  other  a  secondary  place.  The 
old  intellectual  presentation  of  Christianity 
has,  in  many  ways,  become  inadequate.  But 

1  Cf.  Kbnnen  nrir  nock  Christen  sein  ?  pp.  150  to  210 ;  Das 
Wesen  der  Religion  ;  Life's  Basis  and  Life's  Ideal,  p.  332  ff.  ; 
Christianity  and  the  New  Idealism,  chapter  iv.  ;  The  Truth 
of  Religion,  pp.  539  to  6l6. 


196  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

still  it  cannot  be  thrown  overboard  in  any 
light-hearted  manner,  if  for  no  other  reason 
than  that  it  has  grown  along  with  the  growth 
of  the  Spiritual  Substance  itself.  Some  kind 
of  shock,  and  even  loss,  may  be  temporarily 
experienced  in  parting  with  it ;  but  this  is  a 
process  that  has  to  be  passed  through ;  and 
once  it  is  passed  through,  the  new  clothing 
of  Christianity  cannot  but  help  man  to  see  a 
richer  meaning  in  the  Eternal.  It  may  not 
fit  quite  so  compactly  for  a  time ;  it  may  not 
merge  easily  with  the  Spiritual  Substance. 
We  are  far  less  comfortable  in  a  new  suit  of 
clothes  than  in  an  old  one ;  but  comfort  is 
not  the  only  criterion  in  regard  to  the  things 
of  the  body  or  of  the  soul.  There  may  be 
a  need  for  a  change,  and  our  needs  are  of 
more  significance  than  our  comforts.  The 
change  from  old  to  new  can  be  accomplished 
when  the  difference  of  Substance  and  Form 
is  clearly  perceived,  and  when  the  Substance 
is  preserved  in  the  midst  of  the  change.  This 
is  one  of  the  greatest  tasks  set  to  the  Christian 
Church  to-day,  and  no  one  is  competent  to 
undertake  it  if  he  has  not  experienced  in  the 
very  depth  of  his  own  soul  the  meaning  of  the 
Eternal  as  the  essence  of  the  Christian  religion. 
Eucken  has  grasped  this  truth  in  an  un- 
mistakable manner ;  and  he  sees  nothing  but 
disaster  for  religion  in  any  attempt  to  present 
a  new  clothing  at  the  expense  of  ejecting  the 
Eternal  kernel.  But  still  he  insists  that  in 


CHRISTIANITY  197 

theology   the   claims   of  the   new   forms   are 
overwhelmingly  necessary  and  just. 

When  we  turn  to  Eucken's  conception  in 
connection  with  the  place  of  the  personality  of 
the  Founder  in  the  Christianity  of  the  present, 
we  are  treading  on  very  difficult  ground.  This 
is  a  question  which  cannot  be  decided  by  the 
cold,  calculating  intellect.  Without  a  doubt, 
there  is  here  something  unique  in  the  history 
of  the  world — something  which  no  psychology 
can  fathom  and  no  logic  can  construct  into 
exact  propositions.  But  here  once  again,  the 
two  elements — the  Spiritual  Substance  and 
its  Form — are  apparent  in  the  life  of  the 
Founder,  and  in  our  conceptions  concerning 
his  life  and  death.  But  we  need  not  fear  that 
any  real  loss  will  accrue  if  we  hold  fast  to 
the  indisputable  fact  of  the  presence  of  a 
divinity  within  his  life — a  divinity  which  has 
to  be  repeated  on  a  smaller  scale  in  our  own 
lives  before  we  are  ever  able  to  have  even  a 
glimmer  of  it.  It  is  out  of  such  a  spiritual 
experience  that  the  life  of  the  Master  can  gain 
its  real  value  and  significance  for  us.  But 
in  the  past  there  has  been  a  tendency  to  see 
a  good  deal  of  this  significance  in  theological 
constructions  which  have  now  ceased  to  con- 
tain any  genuine  meaning.  At  the  best  these 
constructions  could  never  mean  more  than  the 
best  intellectual  presentations  of  good  men. 
Something  besides  them — deeper  than  them 
all — had  to  appear  before  any  soul  could  be 


198  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

converted  to  the  things  of  Eternal  Life. 
Here  Eucken  shows  that  metaphysical  con- 
cepts such  as  the  Trinity  have  tended  to 
become  purely  anthropomorphic  and  mytho- 
logical, probably  necessary  at  a  certain  level 
of  religion,  but  which  have  now  been  super- 
seded by  truer  conceptions  of  life  and  exist- 
ence. There  is  no  longer  any  meaning  in 
asking  whether  the  Founder  was  a  "mere 
man "  or  a  God.  He  was  an  intermediate 
reality  between  the  two.  To  measure  the 
depth  and  content  of  his  soul  is  a  presumption 
of  shallow  minds  ;  to  determine  in  a  speculative 
manner  the  exact  nature  of  his  divinity,  and 
to  formulate  imposing  doctrines  out  of  all  this 
is  quite  as  presumptuous.  It  is  sufficient  for 
us  to  know  that  he  overcame  the  world,  that 
the  Godhead  dwelt  in  a  form  of  immediacy 
within  his  soul.  All  this  is  an  experimental 
proof  of  the  working  of  the  Divine  upon  the 
plane  of  Time.  But  such  Divine  breaks  in 
pieces  if  it  is  subjected  to  exact  determina- 
tions. Some  account  of  it  we  must  have  : 
the  understanding  demands  this ;  but  that 
account  must  include  what  the  best  light  of 
knowledge  has  to  throw  on  the  subject.  But 
when  all  is  said,  something  infinitely  greater 
remains  unsaid,  and  yet  to  be  experienced— 
something  that  requires  the  soul  to  exert  itself 
in  order  to  experience  what  all  this  means. 
When  face  to  face  with  the  meaning  and  value 
of  the  life  and  death  and  spiritual  resurrection 


CHRISTIANITY  199 

of  the  Founder  of  our  Christianity,  we  are 
face  to  face  with  an  eternal  reality  revealed 
within  the  soul  of  the  "son  of  man."  At 
such  a  depth  of  our  nature,  the  petty  questions 
concerning  how  much  or  how  little  was  present 
disappear  into  the  background  of  life,  and  we 
are  able  through  such  a  vision  to  pass  to  the 
Father.  When  emphasis  is  laid  on  such  a 
fact  as  this,  Christianity  will  again  become  a 
religion  of  the  spirit — a  religion  which  will 
unite  all  mankind  at  a  point  of  unity  beneath 
all  close  intellectual  determinations  and  differ- 
ences. And  Eucken  points  out  that  it  is  not 
in  the  life  of  Jesus  alone  that  we  can  obtain 
such  a  vision.  But  we  do  not  gain  the  vision 
by  merely  saying  this.  If  we  know  of  any 
other  character  who  was  so  much  and  who  did 
so  much,  probably  we  shall  obtain  there  what 
we  need.  But  in  the  Western  world  at  least 
we  do  not  know  any  such  character ;  the 
essence  of  his  life  and  personality  has  been 
always  connected  with  the  conception  of  God. 
But  this  is  not  the  sole  conception  and,  as 
Eucken  says,  we  cannot  bind  ourselves  entirely 
to  this  one  point  in  Christianity.  The  narrow 
paths  which  lead  to  religion  are  many  ;  we 
have  to  draw  help  from  all  quarters  where  the 
Divine  has  been  revealed.  But  the  danger 
lies  in  merely  knowing  so  many  such  paths 
while  walking  on  none  of  them.  The  person- 
ality of  Jesus  will  remain  in  Christianity,  and 
the  world  in  its  darkness  will  turn  again  and 


200  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

again  to  that  palpable  proof  of  the  Divine 
seen  on  such  a  summit,  and  endeavour  to  scale 
the  same  everlasting  hill  of  God.  "  Here  we 
find  a  human  life  of  the  most  homely  and 
simple  kind,  passed  in  a  remote  corner  of  the 
world,  little  heeded  by  his  contemporaries, 
and,  after  a  short  blossoming  life,  cruelly  put 
to  death.  And  yet,  this  life  had  an  energy  of 
spirit  which  filled  it  to  the  brim ;  it  had  a 
Standard  which  has  transformed  human  exist- 
ence to  its  very  root ;  it  has  made  inadequate 
what  hitherto  seemed  to  bring  entire  happi- 
ness ;  it  has  set  limits  to  all  petty  natural 
culture ;  it  has  stamped  as  frivolity,  not  only 
all  absorption  in  the  mere  pleasures  of  life, 
but  has  also  reduced  the  whole  prior  circle 
of  man  to  the  mere  world  of  sense.  Such 
a  valuation  holds  us  fast  and  refuses  to  be 
weakened  by  us  when  all  the  dogmas  and 
usages  of  the  Church  are  detected  as  merely 
human  organisations.  That  life  of  Jesus  estab- 
lishes evermore  a  tribunal  over  the  world ; 
and  the  majesty  of  such  an  effective  bar  of 
judgment  supersedes  all  the  development  of 
external  power."1 

We  may  bring  this  chapter  to  a  close  by 
once  more  pointing  out  Eucken's  insistence  on 
the  Spiritual  Substance  of  Christianity  and  the 
need  of  a  new  Existential-form.  The  Sub- 
stance was  present  in  the  life  of  the  Founder ; 
mankind  has  to  turn  to  that  fact  for  one  of 

1   The  Truth  of  Religion,  p.  360. 


CHRISTIANITY  201 

the  experimental  proofs  of  the  Divine.  But 
such  a  fact  is  not  sufficient.  It  is  something 
which  happened  in  someone  else,  and  not  in 
ourselves.  The  fact  is  to  serve  as  an  inspira- 
tion that  something  similar  shall  and  can 
happen  in  ourselves.  When  this  is  realised,  we 
become  conscious  of  the  power  of  the  Divine 
within  the  soul ;  and  the  problems  of  our  own 
day  are  seen  and  interpreted  in  the  same  spirit 
as  that  in  which  Jesus  faced  and  interpreted 
the  problems  of  his  day.  Such  a  spiritual 
experience  will  become  a  power  to  use  all  the 
good  of  life,  and  thus  sanctify  it  in  the  very 
using  of  it.  The  over-personal  norms  and 
standards  have  now  become  our  own  posses- 
sion ;  they  enable  us  to  see  the  world  as  it 
ought  to  be  seen  and  to  work  for  the  realisa- 
tion of  the  vision ;  and  the  norms  mean  even 
more  than  this,  for  we  have  already  seen  that 
they  point  to  something  beyond  themselves 
and  yet  continuous  with  themselves.  They 
point  to  Infinite  Love  as  the  very  essence 
of  the  Godhead.  The  reality  of  the  over- 
individual  norms  and  the  conception  of  the 
Divine  as  Infinite  Love  thus  induce  in  us 
a  conviction  of  the  possibility  of  an  evolu- 
tion of  the  spirit  and  of  a  reality  beyond 
sense  and  time.  The  Eternal  thus  enters 
into  Time  and  overcomes  Time.  This  is 
Eucken's  final  conclusion  in  regard  to  the 
Christian  religion  and  the  destiny  of  man. 
But  all  this  has  to  be  experienced  before  it 


202  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

can  be  realised.  "  The  task  to-day  is  to  work 
energetically,  to  labour  with  a  free  mind  and 
a  joyful  courage,  so  that  the  Eternal  may  not 
lose  its  efficient  power  by  our  rigid  clinging 
to  temporal  and  antiquated  forms,  so  that 
what  we  have  recognised  as  human  may  not 
bar  the  way  to  the  Divine  as  that  Divine  is 
revealed  in  our  own  day.  The  conditions  of 
the  present  time  afford  the  strongest  motives 
for  such  work.  For  once  again,  in  spite  of 
all  the  contradictions  which  appear  on  the 
surface  of  things,  the  religious  problem  rises 
up  mightily  from  the  depth  of  life ;  from  day 
to  day  it  moves  minds  more  and  more ;  it 
induces  endeavour  and  kindles  the  spirit  of 
man.  It  becomes  ever  plainer  to  all  who  are 
willing  to  see  that  mere  secular  culture  is 
empty  and  vain,  and  is  powerless  to  grant 
life  any  real  content  or  fill  it  with  genuine 
love.  Man  and  humanity  are  pressed  ever 
more  forcibly  forward  into  a  struggle  for  the 
meaning  of  life  and  the  deliverance  of  the 
spiritual  self.  But  the  great  tasks  must  be 
handled  with  a  greatness  of  spirit,  and  such 
a  spirit  demands  freedom — freedom  in  the 
service  of  truth  and  truthfulness.  Let  us 
therefore  work  together,  let  us  work  unceas- 
ingly with  all  our  strength  as  long  as  the  day 
lasts,  in  the  conviction  that  'he  who  wishes 
to  cling  to  the  Old  that  ages  not  must  leave 
behind  him  the  old  that  ages '  (Runeberg), 
and  that  an  Eternal  of  the  real  kind  cannot 


CHRISTIANITY  203 

be  lost  in  the  flux  of  Time,  because  it  over- 
comes Time  by  entering  into  it."1 

Eucken  is  aware  of  the  various  Life-systems 
which  present  themselves  on  every  side  as  all- 
inclusive.  But  he  sees  no  hope  for  a  real 
spiritual  education  of  mankind  until  every 
Life-system  shall  seek  for  a  depth  beyond  the 
natural  man  and  all  his  wants.  And  such  a 
movement  is  visible  amongst  us  to-day.  It 
needs  to  be  possessed  and  proclaimed.  The 
redemption  of  the  world  depends  upon  its 
success.  The  Christian  religion  is  such  a 
Gospel.  "  But  a  movement  towards  a  more 
essential  and  soul-stirring  culture — to  a  pro- 
gressive superiority  of  a  complete  life  beyond 
all  individual  activities — cannot  arise  without 
bringing  the  problem  of  religion  once  more  to 
the  foreground.  Our  life  is  not  able  to  find 
its  bearings  within  this  deep  or  to  gather  its 
treasures  into  a  Whole  unless  it  realises  how 
many  acute  opposites  it  carries  within  itself. 
Life  will  either  be  torn  in  pieces  by  these 
opposites,  or  it  must  somehow  be  raised  above 
them  all.  It  is  the  latter  alone  that  can 
bring  about  a  thorough  transformation  of  our 
first  and  shallow  view  of  the  universe  as  well 
as  the  inauguration  of  a  new  reality.  Man 
has  emerged  out  of  the  darkness  of  nature  and 
remains  afflicted  with  the  afflictions  of  nature  ; 
yet  at  the  same  time,  with  his  appearance  upon 
the  earth  the  darkness  begins  to  illumine,  and 

1  Das  Wesen  der  Religion,  S.  16. 


204  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

'nature  kindles  within  him  a  light'  (Schopen- 
hauer) ;  he  who  is  a  mere  speck  on  the  face  of 
a  boundless  expanse  can  yet  aspire  to  a  par- 
ticipation in  the  whole  of  Infinity ;  he  who 
stands  in  the  midst  of  the  flux  of  time  yet 
possesses  an  aspiration  after  infinite  truth  ;  he 
who  forms  but  a  mere  piece  of  nature  constructs 
at  the  same  time  a  new  world  within  the 
spiritual  life  over  against  it  all ;  he  who  finds 
himself  confined  by  contradictions  of  all  kinds, 
which  immediate  existence  in  no  way  can  solve, 
yet  struggles  after  a  further  depth  of  reality 
and  after  the  '  narrow  gate '  which  opens  into 
religion.  Through  and  beyond  all  the  parti- 
cular problems  of  life  and  the  world,  it  be- 
hoves us  to  raise  the  spiritual  life  to  a  level 
of  full  independence,  to  make  it  simultaneously 
superior  to  man  as  an  individual  and  to  bring 
it  back  into  his  soul.  When  this  comes  to  be 
there  is  at  the  same  time  a  transformation  of 
his  inmost  being,  and  for  the  first  time  he 
becomes  capable  of  genuine  greatness.  .  .  . 
These  final  conclusions  strengthen  the  aspira- 
tion after  a  religion  of  the  spiritual  life.  .  .  . 
Such  a  religion  is  in  no  way  new,  and  Christi- 
anity has  proclaimed  it  and  clung  to  it  from  the 
very  beginning.  But  it  has  been  interwoven 
with  traditional  forms  which  are  now  seen 
through  by  so  many  as  pictorial  ideas  of 
epochs  and  times.  Earlier  times  could  allow 
the  Essence  and  the  Form  to  coalesce  without 
discovering  any  incongruity  in  this.  But  the 


CHRISTIANITY  205 

time  for  doing  this  has  irrevocably  passed 
away.  The  human  which  once  seemed  to 
bring  the  Spiritual  and  Divine  so  near  to  man 
has  now  become  a  burden  and  a  hindrance 
to  him.  A  keener  analysis,  a  more  in- 
dependent development  of  the  Spiritual  and 
Divine,  and,  along  with  this,  the  truth  of 
religion,  do  not  succeed  in  reaching  their  full 
effects  if  religion  is  looked  upon  as  merely 
something  to  protect  individuals,  instead  of 
as  that  which  furthers  the  whole  of  humanity 
— as  that  which  is  not  merely  a  succour  in 
times  of  trouble  and  sorrow  but  also  as  that 
which  guarantees  an  enhancement  in  work  and 
creativeness.  The  situation  is  difficult  and  full 
of  dangers,  and  small  in  the  meantime  is  the 
number  of  those  who  grasp  it  in  a  deep  and 
free  sense,  and  who  yet  are  determined  to 
penetrate  victoriously  into  it,  so  that  the  inner 
necessities  of  the  spiritual  life  may  awaken 
within  the  soul  of  man.  Whatever  new  tasks 
and  difficulties  lie  in  the  lap  of  the  future,  to- 
day it  behoves  us  before  all  else  to  proceed  a 
step  upward  in  the  direction  of  the  summits 
and  to  draw  new  energies  and  depths  of  the 
spiritual  life  into  the  domain  of  man ;  for  this 
kind  of  work  will  prevent  the  coming  of  an 
*  old  age '  upon  humanity  and  will  breathe  into 
its  soul  the  gift  of  Eternal  Youth."1 

1  The  closing  sections  of  The  Truth  of  Religion.  A 
similar  aspect  is  presented  in  the  final  chapter  of  Konnen 
tvir  noch  Christen  sein  ? 


CHAPTER  XII 

PRESENT-DAY   ASPECTS    OF    PHILOSOPHY 
AND    RELIGION 

IN  this  chapter  some  of  the  most  important 
problems  of  the  present  day  will  be  touched 
upon  in  the  light  of  Eucken's  Philosophy 
of  Religion.  Reference  has  already  been 
made  to  Eucken's  account  of  the  limitations 
of  various  Life-systems,  of  their  struggle 
with  one  another,  and  of  the  necessity  for  a 
religious  synthesis  which  will  include  their 
most  important  results  within  itself.1  The 
answer  as  to  the  possibility  and  necessity 
of  such  a  synthesis  constitutes  the  kernel  of 
Eucken's  Philosophy  of  Religion.  He  has  suc- 
ceeded in  a  remarkable  manner  in  assessing  the 
results  of  science,  philosophy,  sociology,  art, 
and  religion.  In  them  all  he  has  discovered 
the  presence  of  a  reality  which  is  non- 
sensuous  in  its  nature,  and  which  reveals  itself 

1  Cf.  J.  S.  Mackenzie's  Outlines  of  Metaphysics  on  the 
various  constructions  of  the  Universe  and  of  Life.  The 
whole  volume  is  of  the  greatest  value.  Cf.  also  A.  E. 
Taylor's  illuminating  volume,  Elements  of  Metaphysics. 

206 


PHILOSOPHY  AND  RELIGION          207 

in  judgments  of  value  that  carry  within 
themselves  their  own  necessity  and  self-sub- 
sistence. This  is  his  conclusion  in  regard  to 
the  work  of  the  spirit  of  man  on  whatever 
plane  of  knowledge  or  experience  that  spirit 
works.  Man's  spirit  has  to  carry  all  its  know- 
ledge and  experience  into  its  own  conative 
spiritual  potencies.  We  thus  see  that  every- 
thing becomes  an  aid  to  the  unfolding  of  an 
ever  greater  degree  of  reality  within  the  spirit 
of  man.  It  is  then  within  the  spirit  of  man 
that  everything  finds  its  interpretation  and 
value.  Whatever  interpretation  is  given  to 
anything  apart  from  the  union  of  the  whole 
potency  and  cognition  of  man's  spirit  is  only 
a  partial  interpretation.  And  it  is  in  the 
failure  to  recognise  this  truth  that  so  many 
Life-systems  have  set  themselves  against  the 
higher  aspects  of  philosophy  and  religion. 
The  most  important  question  has  not  been 
asked :  What  is  the  relation  and  value  of  all 
results  in  connection  with  the  deepest  potency 
and  necessity  of  man's  spirit  ?  Are  these  results 
capable  of  enriching  that  spirit  of  man  when 
he  becomes  conscious  of  them  ?  These  are 
the  questions  which  Eucken  continually  asks 
and  answers  in  his  great  works  ;  and  it  is  this 
fact  which  makes  his  teaching  so  valuable 
and  superior  to  all  the  Life-systems  of  our 
day.  It  is  difficult  to  think  of  any  aspect 
of  experience  which  Eucken  has  left  out  of 
account.  He  has  not,  indeed,  interpreted 


208  BUCKETS  PHILOSOPHY 

in  detail  all  the  Life-systems  in  vogue,  and 
no  human  being  is  capable  of  achieving  such 
a  task ;  but  he  has  clearly  perceived  the  flaws 
which  lie  in  them  all.  And  this  discovery  of 
his  has  revealed  a  flaw  common  to  them  all. 
That  flaw  consists  in  ignoring  the  presence 
of  a  spiritual  life  as  the  great  workshop  where 
every  form  of  reality  finds  its  truest  meaning. 
This  flaw  is  so  serious  in  that  several  Life- 
systems  have  thus  over-estimated  the  import- 
ance of  their  results  by  neglecting  to  take 
into  account  the  potentialities  and  necessities 
of  man's  spirit.  Let  us,  then,  try  to  trace 
this  defect  in  connection  with  some  of  the 
most  important  Life-systems  in  vogue  to-day. 
When  the  various  systems  of  Idealism  are 
estimated,  they  seem  to  present  aspects  of 
reality  with  vast  portions  of  human  potencies 
and  experiences  left  out  of  account.  Absolute 
Idealism  is  based  upon  the  demands  and  im- 
plications of  logic.  Its  doctrines  would  have 
taken  a  very  different  colouring  had  it  con- 
sidered that  the  necessities  of  Logic  have  to 
be  adjusted  to  the  necessities  of  Life.  Such 
systems  are  of  little  value  to  the  soul,  because 
the  needs  of  the  soul  were  not  taken  into 
account  when  they  were  formulated.  This 
fact  was  the  main  cause  of  the  late  Professor 
James's  rebellion  against  all  forms  of  Absolute 
Idealism.  He  felt  that  they  bore  no  relation- 
ship to  human  life  and  its  needs,  and  con- 
sequently could  not  exercise  any  important 


PHILOSOPHY   AND   RELIGION         209 

influence  on  life;  they  could  not  move  the 
will,  for  no  possibility  of  reaching  the  Absolute 
was  offered  to  man.  All  the  conclusions  were 
in  the  realm  of  an  intellectual  universal  and  not 
in  the  realm  of  spirit.  They  must  be  unreal  in 
the  highest  sense  on  account  of  this  very  failure. 
They  have  presented  their  half-gods  as  realities 
outside  Nature,  human  nature,  the  pressing 
ideals  of  life,  and  even  God  Himself. 

Eucken  shows  that  any  true  Life-system 
has  to  start  with  Life  itself.  There  may  be 
interpretations  needful  which  have  no  impli- 
cations for  Life,  and  these  have  a  right  of  their 
own  ;  but  when  such  interpretations  are  carried 
further,  when  the  subject  who  knows  such 
interpretations  and  who  uses  them  is  taken 
into  account,  then  the  interpretations  found 
on  this  level  are  something  quite  different 
from  what  they  were  when  the  whole  spirit  of 
man  was  not  taken  into  account.  Eucken 
consequently  comes  to  the  conclusion  that 
philosophy  has  not  completely  fulfilled  its 
vocation  until  it  has  become  a  philosophy  of 
Life — until  the  truest  meaning  of  every  object 
is  discovered  in  its  relation  to  all  the  necessities 
of  the  spirit.  And  it  is  here  that  his  teaching 
comes  into  conflict  with  so  much  that  goes 
by  the  name  of  Idealism.  How  can  any 
system  be  more  than  a  half-truth  when  its 
final  meaning  is  presented  with  but  little  atten- 
tion to  the  highest  aspect  we  know  in  the  world 
—to  human  life  in  its  struggles  and  conquests, 

14 


210  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

in  its  living  and  loving,  and  its  forward  move- 
ment towards  some  distant  goal  ?  The  special 
value  of  Eucken's  teaching  lies,  then,  in  the  fact 
that  it  interprets  what  happens,  can  happen,  and 
ought  to  happen  within  life  itself.  No  system 
which  leaves  out  the  soul  with  its  possibilities 
is  complete.  This  has  been  done  too  often  in 
the  past,  and  is  being  done  to-day.  Is  it,  then, 
a  wonder  that  philosophy  has  given  so  very 
little  help  to  Life  in  its  complex  problems 
without  and  its  sharp  opposites  and  contradic- 
tions within  ?  Life  is  more  and  needs  more 
than  a  philosophy  of  words,  devoid  of  power, 
can  offer  it.  Life,  when  at  its  best,  believes 
in  the  all-power  of  its  own  spiritual  potency ; 
it  has  faith  in  the  possibility  of  ascent  from 
height  to  height,  as  well  as  in  the  possibility  of 
an  incessant  progress  not  only  of  individuals 
but  of  the  whole  of  mankind.1  A  System 
stands  or  falls  according  as  it  is  able  to  con- 
ceive of  Life  in  such  a  manner.  And  Eucken 
has  done  this  as  probably  no  other  living 
philosopher  has  done  it. 

If  we  turn  to  Immanent  Idealism,  we 
discover  the  same  failure.  It  emphasises 
the  presence  within  consciousness  of  what  is 
idealistic  and  noble,  but  it  leaves  out  the 
objective  and  imperative  character  of  what 
is  present.  It  also  forgets  that  the  pos- 
session of  ideals  as  ideas  is  only  the  initial 
stage  of  such  ideals  becoming  a  very  portion 

1  Cf.  Der  Kampf  um  einen  geistigen  Lebensinhalt,  S.  98  ff. 


PHILOSOPHY    AND   RELIGION          211 

of  the  deepest  substance  of  soul  itself.  We 
may  deceive  ourselves  even  with  the  contem- 
plation of  the  best  ideals  ;  they  can  never 
become  truly  ours  until  the  will  is  set  in 
motion  and  the  whole  nature  is  stirred  to  its 
depths  in  order  to  press  forward  to  what  it 
perceives  as  having  infinite  value.  Something 
has  inevitably  to  happen  within  the  depth 
of  the  soul  before  its  real  creation  can  advance. 
Eucken  here,  again,  has  perceived  this  truth 
and  presents  it  everywhere  with  great  power. 
His  Philosophy  is  an  Activism  of  the  most 
powerful  type.  He  is  aware  that  to  know  and 
to  be  are  so  far  apart.  But  his  Activism  is 
not  a  mere  movement  of  the  individual's  will, 
brought  forth  by  anything  that  has  grown 
within  it  as  a  private  inheritance.  The  Activ- 
ism is  started  and  kept  going  on  its  course  by 
the  over-personal  norms  and  values  already 
referred  to.  It  is  the  union  of  norm  and  will 
that  constitutes  the  full  action.  Life's  greater 
meaning  and  value  is,  therefore,  not  a  ready- 
made  possession  ;  it  is  rather  something  already 
possessed,  and  a  vision  of  something  more  in 
the  distance  to  be  possessed.1  The  presence 
of  the  Divine  within  the  soul  is  not  the  same 
prior  to  the  search  and  after  the  search.  This  is 

1  Cf.  Wicksteed's  remarkable  address  The  Religion  of 
Time  and  the  Religion  of  Eternity,  already  referred  to.  There 
are  some  striking  similarities  between  Eucken  and  Wick- 
steed,  who  have,  however,  worked  each  quite  independ- 
ently of  one  another. 


EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

one  of  the  most  distinctive  features  of  Eucken's 
teaching,  and  constitutes  a  necessary  supple- 
ment to  certain  presentations  of  Immanent 
Idealism  prevalent  in  various  forms  to-day. 

When  we  pass  to  Materialism  in  its  various 
forms,  we  find  Eucken  conscious  of  its  poverty 
and  its  caricature  of  life.  It  is  caused  by  ex- 
cessive absorption  in  the  sensuous  object  with 
all  its  manifold  relations.  But  it  is  possible 
to  believe  in  all  that  it  states ;  for  it  can  never 
really  say  anything  concerning  the  deeper  mean- 
ing of  spiritual  life  if  for  no  other  reason  than 
that  it  cannot  penetrate  into  life's  deeper  ex- 
periences. It  is  a  stage  in  human  thought 
which  is  passing  away.  What  will  become  of 
it  after  Professor  HaeckeFs  passing  is  difficult 
to  imagine.  One  thing  at  least  is  certain  :  as 
a  complete  system  of  the  universe  or  of  life  it 
is  doomed.1  A  mechanical  interpretation  of  the 
universe  is  legitimate :  we  may  have  to  adopt 
more  of  such  interpretations  in  the  future.  But 
there  is  no  need  for  any  alarm  from  the  sides 
of  philosophy  and  religion.  Their  citadel  is 
not  built  upon  a  thing,  but  upon  a  thought ; 
and  the  gap  between  the  two  increases  in  the 
degree  in  which  our  knowledge  of  Nature  and 
Man  increases.  Eucken  has  many  great  things 
to  say  on  this  subject  in  his  larger  works. 
Doubtless  he  would  agree  with  some  of  the 

1  Men  of  science  themselves  feel  this,  and  are  conscious 
of  the  one-sidedness  of  the  results  of  the  scientific  side 
of  materialism. 


PHILOSOPHY   AND  RELIGION         213 

advocates  of  Naturalism  in  regard  to  the  mean- 
ing of  the  physical  universe,  but  such  agreement 
would  not  be  an  admission  that  all  had  been 
said  that  could  be  said  concerning  the  need  and 
the  possibility  of  a  Metaphysic  of  Life. 

The  one  word  More  constitutes  all  the  differ- 
ence. This  Mo?*e9  with  Eucken,  is  the  begin- 
ning of  a  new  order  of  existence  and  of  value 
where  the  physical  order  ends.  His  work  con- 
sists in  interpreting  this  More,  and  we  have 
already  seen  whither  the  More  leads  us :  it 
leads  us  into  spiritual  norms  and  their  values, 
and  these  in  their  turn  led  us  into  Infinite 
Love  in  the  Godhead.  The  failure  to  see  the 
value  of  all  this  is  due  to  the  inattention  of 
the  advocates  of  Naturalism  in  regard  to  the 
non-sensuous  structure  of  mind :  the  Thing 
and  its  relations  monopolise  them  so  com- 
pletely that  they  are  blind  to  every  reality 
non-sensuous  in  its  nature,  although  they 
possess  some  amount  of  such  reality  in  their 
very  knowledge  and  adoration  of  the  Thing. 
Our  troubles  will  continue  to  accumulate,  and 
che  prospect  of  the  future  will  grow  extremely 
dark,  if  the  grip  which  physical  things  have  on 
the  world  to-day  be  not  relaxed.  The  very 
physical  powers  which  we  have  helped  to  create, 
and  which  hitherto  have  proved  of  service  to 
men,  will  mean  our  destruction  unless  some- 
thing of  the  More  which  is  beyond  them  be 
found  as  a  possession  and  an  activity  within 
the  governing  centre  of  life.  This  is  Eucken's 


BUCKETS   PHILOSOPHY 

plea  over  against  the  various  forms  of  the 
Naturalism  and  Materalism  of  our  day.  These 
are  not  enough  for  man.  But  man  is  so  slow 
in  recognising  this  fact.  The  appeal  of  Spiritual 
Idealism  is  considered  to  be  something  which 
is  vague  and  useless.  Our  deepest  reality  and 
the  source  of  all  true  energy  have  been  robbed 
of  their  efficacy  by  our  absorption  in  scraping 
together  physical  elements  of  chaff  and  dust. 
How  often  does  Eucken  show  our  dire  poverty 
in  the  midst  of  all  this  external  plenty  !  The 
all-sufficiency  of  all  forms  of  Naturalism  con- 
demns itself  through  its  failure  to  pass  beyond 
itself.  Had  there  not  been  some  who  did  pass 
beyond  the  Thing  and  its  relations  the  spiritual 
values  of  the  race  would  have  been  annihilated. 
"  As  soon  as  we  demand  to  pass  beyond  mere 
awareness  to  a  genuine  knowledge,  we  discover 
our  deplorable  poverty,  and  must  confess  that 
what  is  termed  certain  seems  on  clearer  in- 
vestigation to  rest  upon  a  totally  insecure 
foundation."1  "  It  is  not  natural  science  itself 
which  leads  to  naturalism,  for,  indeed,  no 
natural  science  could  arise  if  reality  exhausted 
itself  in  the  measurements  of  naturalism ;  but 
it  is  rather  the  weakness  of  the  conviction  of 
the  spiritual  life ;  it  is  the  failure  of  certitude 
in  regard  to  the  presence  of  a  spiritual  exist- 
ence ;  it  is  the  unclearness  concerning  the 
inner  conditions  of  all  mental  and  spiritual 
activity  which  a  shallow  and  popular  philo- 

1   The  Truth  of  Religion,  p.  103. 


PHILOSOPHY  AND  RELIGION         215 

sophy  presents  —  it  is  all  this  which  turns 
natural  science  into  a  materialistic  natural- 
ism."1 The  strength  of  materialistic  monism 
does  not  lie  in  any  proof  of  there  being 
nothing  but  mechanism  in  this  wide  universe, 
but  in  its  energetic  propaganda  against  certain 
traditional  theological  forms  of  ecclesiastical 
religion — forms  which  are  rapidly  being  dis- 
owned by  the  leaders  of  religious  thought. 
Even  monism  concedes  that  "  it  is  better 
being  good  than  bad,  better  being  sane  than 
mad."  This  concession,  and  the  attempt  to 
live  according  to  it,  constitute  a  proof  of  the 
presence  in  some  form  of  a  non-sensuous 
reality  and  value  in  the  constructions  of 
materialistic  monism  itself.  Hence,  Eucken's 
conception  of  spiritual  life  cannot  be  got  rid 
of  after  all.  It  will  remain  so  long  as  men 
live  above  the  animal  level  and  strive  to  ascend 
to  something  higher  still. 

When  the  neo-Kantian  movement  is 
examined,  we  find  that  its  long  and  honour- 
able history  presents  us  with  gains  which 
cannot  be  measured.  But  we  have  already 
noticed  that  in  so  far  as  this  movement  has 
specialised  within  the  domain  of  the  connec- 
tions of  mind  and  body,  and  has  attempted  to 
reduce  psychology  to  the  limits  of  the  relations 
between  the  two,  it  is  largely  outside  the  inner 
meaning  and  value  of  the  life  of  consciousness. 

1  Die  Lebensanschaiiungen  der  grossen  Denker,  9te  Auflage, 
1911,  S.  504. 


216  BUCKETS  PHILOSOPHY 

Its  work  has  proved  useful  in  many  important 
respects.  It  has  made  man  realise  that  the 
connection  of  body  and  mind  is  not  so  simple 
a  matter  as  materialistic  naturalism  would 
lead  us  to  suppose ;  and  it  has  shown,  on  the 
whole,  the  impossibility  of  reducing  conscious- 
ness to  mechanical  elements.  Even  in  the 
various  forms  of  psycho-physical  parallelism 
the  factor  of  mind  and  meaning  stands  apart 
in  its  origin  from  the  factors  of  bodily  move- 
ment. But  neo- Kantianism  has  developed  on 
higher  lines  than  those  of  physiological 
psychology.  It  has  dealt  with  the  presence 
of  an  inner  world  of  thought — a  world  of 
values  and  judgments  of  values,  of  norms, 
imperatives,  and  ideals — realities  which  are 
not  presented  in  any  scheme  of  natural  science. 
It  is  impossible  to  read  such  a  great  book  as 
the  late  Professor  Otto  Liebmann's  Analysis 
der  Wirklichkeit^  without  discovering  this 
truth.  In  this  great  work,  as  well  as  in  his 
Gedanken  und  Thatsacken,  Liebmann  shows 
how  man  is  more  than  a  natural  product. 

1  Liebmann  passed  away  in  January  1912.  He  had 
been  Eucken's  colleague  in  Jena  for  many  years.  Windel- 
band  designates  him  as  <(  the  truest  of  Kantians  and  the 
Nestor  of  Philosophy."  Cf.  my  article  on  his  life  and  work 
in  the  Nation  for  February  3,  1912.  The  best  presentation 
in  England  of  the  Kantian  philosophy  and  its  development 
is  to  be  found  in  Caird's  Critical  Philosophy  oj  Kant  and 
Adamson's  Development  of  Modern  Philosophy.  Cf.  also  G. 
Dawes  Hicks' s  valuable  articles  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Aristotelian  Society  during  the  past  ten  years. 


PHILOSOPHY   AND  RELIGION         217 

"  Natural  science,"  he  tells  us,  "  is  a  very 
useful,  and,  indeed,  an  indispensable  hand- 
maid to  philosophy,  but  it  is  in  no  manner 
the  first,  the  deepest,  the  most  original  basis 
of  philosophy."  Liebmann's  successors, 
especially  Windelband,  Rickert,  Miinsterberg, 
Adickes,  and  Vaihinger,  work  on  similar  lines. 
And  there  is  a  great  deal  in  Eucken's  teaching 
which  tends  in  the  same  direction.  But  he 
goes  a  step  further  than  all  the  neo-Kantians. 
We  have  already  noticed  how  he  gives 
judgments  of  value  and  spiritual  norms  a 
cosmic  significance.  He  finds  that  when 
these  norms  and  values  have  awakened  with 
great  clearness  within  man's  spirit  they  in- 
evitably lead  to  the  conception  of  the  God- 
head. And  it  is  in  this  work  that  Eucken's 
Metaphysic  of  Life  becomes  a  religious  meta- 
physic.  As  values  and  norms  mean  so  much 
when  a  reality  is  granted  them  by  the  truest 
of  the  neo-Kantians,  they  come  to  mean 
infinitely  more  when  they  are  acknowledged 
as  somehow  constituting  the  foundation  and 
the  acme  of  all  existence.  Eucken's  main 
desire  is  to  establish  such  norms  and  values 
beyond  the  possibility  of  dispute  and  beyond 
the  constant  changes  of  Life-systems.  They 
mean  for  him  what  is  present  within  their 
spiritual  content  as  a  realisation  as  wrell  as  the 
More  to  which  they  still  point.  His  teaching 
is  not  contradicted  by  anything  in  the  neo- 

1  Analysis  der  Wirklichkeit,  3te  Auflage,  1900,  S.  vii. 


218  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

Kantian  movement ;  he  accepts  its  trans- 
cendental reality  and  lifts  it  out  of  the  realm 
of  individuality  and  of  history  into  a  cosmic 
realm.  After  having  followed  the  implica- 
tions of  the  neo- Kantian  movement  so  far,  he 
feels  compelled  to  take  the  next  step.  For 
unless  that  next  step  is  taken,  some  of  the 
deepest  potencies  of  human  nature  fail  to 
come  to  flower  and  fruit.  When  the  step  is 
taken,  they  do  blossom  and  bear  fruit.  Is  not 
this  a  sufficient  justification  for  taking  the 
"  next  step  "  ?  It  is  ;  for  man  cannot  allow 
any  potency  of  his  being  to  remain  dormant 
without  suffering  a  loss ;  and  on  this  highest 
level  of  all  the  loss  must  be  incalculable. 
"  Thou  hast  created  us  for  Thyself,  and  our 
heart  will  never  find  its  rest  until  it  rests  on 
Thee."  That  confession  of  Augustine  is 
Eucken's  confession  also ;  and  it  is  the  impli- 
cation which  such  a  confession  contains  that 
constitutes  the  significance  of  his  message  to 
the  world.  He  is  in  the  line  not  only  of  the 
philosophers  but  of  the  prophets  and  the 
mystics.  The  ladder  of  knowledge  reaches, 
like  Jacob's  ladder,  up  to  heaven  itself — to 
that  pure  atmosphere  where  knowledge, 
merged  in  a  deeper  reality,  becomes  some- 
thing so  different  from  what  it  was  before. 
An  eternal  blessedness  has  now  become  the 
possession  of  man. 

Eucken  has  a  great  deal  to  say  regarding 
the  Historical  Life-systems  of  the  present  day. 


PHILOSOPHY   AND   RELIGION          219 

He  is  aware  that  the  neglect  by  German 
thinkers  of  the  fundamental  importance  of 
Hegel's  teaching  on  this  question  has  meant 
a  heavy  loss.  That  loss  is  already  perceived, 
and  Hegel's  value  in  the  realm  of  the  Philo- 
sophy of  History  is  being  rediscovered.  Men 
are  more  and  more  feeling  the  necessity  of 
conceding  a  validity  and  objectivity  to  the 
concepts  of  History.  The  work  of  the  late 
Professor  Dilthey l  in  this  respect  is  of  great 
importance,  and  has  strong  affinities  with 
Eucken's  teaching  on  the  same  subject.  But 
Dilthey's  objectivity  and  validity  stopped  short 
of  religion  in  the  sense  in  which  religion  is  pre- 
sented by  Eucken.  Dilthey  gave  the  norms  of 
History  a  transcendental  objectivity  and  con- 
sidered them  sufficient  for  man.  But  Eucken, 
as  already  stated,  while  granting  all  this  and 
even  insisting  upon  it,  finds  that  the  norms  of 
History  do  not  include  the  whole  that  human 
nature  needs.  The  "  next  step "  has  to  be 
taken  whereby  a  reality  is  revealed  beyond 
the  confines  of  the  best  collective  experiences 
of  the  human  race.  Once  more,  we  are 
landed  in  the  conception  of  the  Godhead. 
The  step  became  inevitable,  because  the  best 

1  Cf.  Dilthey's  Erlebnis  und  Dichtung ;  his  article  "  Die 
Typen  der  Weltanschauung  und  ihre  Ausbildung  in  den 
metaphysichen  Systemen  "  in  Weltanschauung  ;  Philosophic 
und  Religion  in  Darstellungen,  1911;  also,  "  Das  Wesen 
der  Philosophic "  in  Systematische  Philosophie  ("  Kultur 
der  Gegenwart  "  ). 


220  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

historical  concepts,  in  their  totality,  pointed  to 
something  still  beyond  themselves. 

During  the  past  few  years  Eucken  has 
devoted  much  attention  to  the  Life-system 
presented  in  Pragmatism.  He  is  alive  to  the 
value  of  much  of  the  work  of  the  late  Professor 
William  James  and  of  Dr  F.  C.  S.  Schiller. 
He  feels  that  Absolute  Idealism  is  too  ab- 
stract and  too  remote  from  life  to  move 
the  human  will.  It  is  too  much  like  placing 
a  man  before  a  mountain,  and  asking  him  to 
remove  it.  The  very  magnitude  of  the  object 
weakens  instead  of  strengthening  the  will. 
Pragmatism  has  the  merit  of  insisting  that 
the  task  be  done  piecemeal,  so  that  man  may 
not  lose  heart  at  the  very  outset.  And  some 
kind  of  goal  is  present  in  Pragmatism.  But 
Eucken's  main  objection  to  Pragmatism  is 
that,  however  adequate  it  may  be  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  enterprise,  it  will  tend,  as  time 
passes,  to  turn  man  in  the  direction  of  the  line 
of  least  resistance,  and  so  be  degraded  to  the 
level  of  the  ordinary  life  and  its  petty  de- 
mands.1 His  Activism  is  entirely  different 
from  James's  Pragmatism.  James  depended 
too  much  upon  the  "span  of  the  moment" 
and  its  immediate  experience.  There  is  in  this 
"  span  "  often  no  cosmic  conviction  present  in 
consciousness  to  proclaim  that  the  action  is 

1  Cf.  Eucken's  Hauptprobleme  der  Religionsphilosophie  der 
Gegenrvart,  5te  Auflage,  1912,  chapter  iv.  Also,  Erkennen 
und  Leben  (1912),  ss.  35-51. 


PHILOSOPHY   AND   RELIGION 

"  worth  while  "  at  all  costs.  While  constantly 
demanding  the  need  of  effort  in  order  to 
experience  the  deeper  potencies  of  spiritual 
life,  Eucken  insists  that  such  effort  can  enter 
into  a  current  only  in  so  far  as  norms  and 
values  are  clearly  perceived  as  the  meaning  and 
goal  of  spiritual  life.  A  universal  of  meaning 
and  value  must  be  perceived,  however  imper- 
fectly it  may  be,  before  the  individual  can  call 
his  deepest  nature  into  activity.  And  what  is 
such  a  universal  but  something  beyond  the 
flow  of  the  moment  and  beyond  the  realm 
of  ordinary  daily  life  ?  Such  a  universal,  too, 
must  have  an  existence  of  its  own — an  exist- 
ence and  a  value  which  are  beyond  the  opinions 
of  any  individual  or  of  any  group  of  individuals, 
even  if  such  a  group  were  to  include  the  whole 
human  race.  It  is  clear,  then,  why  Eucken 
parts  company  with  Pragmatism. 

If,  finally,  we  view  his  attitude  towards  the 
Religious  Life-systems  of  our  generation,  we 
find  words  of  warning  and  of  encouragement. 
His  whole  work  culminates  in  religion.  But 
he  teaches  us  that  we  have  to  learn  from  the 
sides  of  knowledge  already  presented  in  this 
chapter.  And  it  may  be  said  that  the  Christian 
Church  (or  any  other  Church)  has  yet  to  learn 
this  lesson.  It  still  seeks  to  find  its  revela- 
tion in  what  was,  and  in  modes  which  come 
constantly  into  direct  conflict  with  the  results 
of  the  various  Life-systems  already  referred  to. 
It  wants  the  fruits  of  religion  without  tilling 


222  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

the  ground  and  nurturing  its  plants.  Its  in- 
sistence on  placing  the  basis  of  religion  in  myth 
and  miracle  dooms  it  to  a  greater  disaster  in  the 
future  than  even  in  the  past.  Eucken  sees  no 
hope  for  a  "  revival "  of  religion  in  the  soul 
until  an  inverted  order  of  conceiving  reality 
takes  place.  The  religious  synthesis  from  the 
intellectual  side  is  to  be  obtained  by  passing 
through  the  grades  of  reality  explicit  in  the 
various  Life-systems,  and  by  abstaining  from 
the  imposition  of  barriers  which  forbid  anyone 
roaming  and  "ruminating"  within  these.  If 
one  condition  is  obeyed,  this  is  the  most  fruit- 
ful way  to  construct  a  new  religious  metaphysic 
which  will  supplant  traditional  theology.  That 
condition  is  that  the  various  Life-systems  form 
a  kind  of  scale  which  extends  from  Matter  up  to 
the  Godhead.  The  new  religious  metaphysic 
will  then  mean  a  real  philosophy  of  values. 

Does  this  constitute  an  impossible  task 
for  the  Christian  Church  ?  It  will  remain 
impossible  so  long  as  we  look  upon  th< 
essence  of  Christianity  as  something  which 
descends  upon  us  apart  from  the  exertion  of 
our  own  spiritual  potencies.  It  is  a  consola- 
tion to  know  that  the  highest  reality  may 
be  experienced  without  having  to  undergo 
a  training  in  the  methods  and  implications 
of  science,  history,  or  metaphysics.  But  the 
experience  here  cannot  possibly  mean  so  much 
as  the  experience  which  passes  through  and 
beyond  the  implications  of  knowledge  to  the 


PHILOSOPHY   AND   RELIGION          223 

Divine.  Such  an  experience  as  the  latter 
must  be  richer  in  content.  And  even  apart 
from  this,  it  produces  something  of  value  on 
the  intellectual  side — something  which  grants 
religion  a  security  in  the  eyes  of  the  world. 
When  the  Church  tends  in  this  direction,  its 
faith  will  come  into  comradeship  with  the 
various  branches  of  human  knowledge  as  these 
reveal  themselves  on  level  above  level.  Chris- 
tianity has  nothing  to  fear,  but  everything  to 
gain,  from  the  development  of  all  the  branches 
of  human  knowledge.  Its  source  being  Spirit- 
ual and  Eternal,  why  should  opposition  be 
presented  to  any  development  of  the  lower 
realities  in  science,  Biblical  criticism,  history, 
and  philosophy  ?  This  lesson  is  not  yet 
learned,  and  Eucken  pleads  for  its  acknow- 
ledgment. "  If  we  consider  how  much  is  in- 
volved in  such  a  change  in  the  position  of 
the  spiritual  life,  and  if  we  also  present  be- 
fore ourselves  what  transformations  civilisa- 
tion, culture,  history,  and  natural  science  carry 
within  themselves,  we  see  clearly  the  critical 
situation  in  which  religion  is  placed,  because 
these  surface- changes  are  not  of  the  essence 
of  religion.  Through  the  mighty  expansion 
and  the  fissures  which  these  changes  bring 
about,  the  old  immediacy  and  intimacy  of  the 
soul  have  become  lost,  and  religion  has  now 
receded  into  the  distance,  and  is  in  danger  of 
vanishing  more  and  more.  The  derangement 
of  things  which  such  changes  cause  occurs 


224  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

not  only  in  connection  with  their  own  facts 
and  material  and  against  their  old  forms,  but 
the  effect  proceeds  into  the  very  character  and 
feelings  of  man  and  into  his  religion.  And 
yet,  when  we  examine  the  matter  more  closely, 
we  find  that  such  changes  cause  not  so  much 
a  breach  with  Christianity  as  with  its  tradi- 
tional form,  and  that  they  seek  to  bring  about 
a  fundamental  renewal  of  Christianity.  For 
when  we  penetrate  beyond  the  motives  and 
dispositions  of  men  to  their  spiritual  basis, 
all  the  changes  are  unable  to  contradict  what 
is  essential  to  Christianity,  but  they  even 
promise  to  assist  this  essential  element  in  its 
new,  freer,  and  more  energetic  development. 
But  we  have  to  bear  in  mind  that  all  this  will 
not  descend  upon  us  like  a  shower  of  rain,  but 
will  have  to  be  brought  forth  through  immens< 
labour  and  toil.  It  becomes  necessary 
replace  that  which  must  pass  away,  and  to  re- 
consolidate  the  essentials  which  are  threatened. 
All  this  cannot  come  about  save  through  an 
energetic  concentration  and  deepening  of  the 
spiritual  life,  save  through  a  struggle  against 
the  superficiality  of  Time  regardless  of  all 
consequences,  and  save  through  a  vivification 
and  integration  of  all  that  points  in  the  right 
direction."  1 

1  The  Truth  of  Religion,  p.  574.  Many  hints  in  this  and 
other  respects  may  be  found  in  W.  R.  Boyce  Gibson's 
valuable  work,  Rudolf  Eucken's  Philosophy  of  Life  (3rd 
edition,  1912). 


PHILOSOPHY   AND  RELIGION  225 

This  passage  illustrates  well  Eucken's  whole 
attitude  regarding  Christianity.  It  is  evident 
that  much  remains  to  be  done  within  and  with- 
out the  Church.  Within,  radical  changes  are 
to  take  place ;  but  always  in  the  light  and 
with  the  preservation  of  the  spiritual  substance. 
Without,  the  indifference  of  a  vast  portion  of 
the  civilised  nations  of  the  world  has  to  be 
reckoned  with.  It  is  an  immense  problem, 
often  enough  to  dishearten  good  men  and 
women.  How  can  men  be  moved  from  their 
inertia  and  their  resentment  against  the  deeper 
demands  which  spiritual  life  makes  upon 
every  human  being  ?  That  is  the  problem  of 
problems  and  the  task  of  tasks  to-day.  No 
clear  solution  of  it  is  yet  perceptible.  But 
in  the  meantime,  those  who  care  for  Divine 
things  and  who  have  experienced  some  of 
their  power  within  their  own  souls  must 
hold  fast  to  all  they  possess,  and  labour 
unceasingly  to  increase  the  spiritual  value  of 
their  possession.  Probably  catastrophes  have 
to  happen  in  order  to  bring  the  world  home 
to  religion  and  God. 

Rudolf  Eucken's  gospel  is  a  proclamation 
of  the  necessity  of  religion  and  the  possibility 
of  its  possession.  This,  according  to  him,  is 
the  final  goal  of  all  knowledge  and  life.  If 
religion  is  not  this,  it  is  the  most  tragic  decep- 
tion conceivable.  "  Religion  is  either  merely 
a  sanctioned  product  of  human  wishes  and 
pictorial  ideas  brought  about  by  tradition  and 

15 


226  BUCKETS   PHILOSOPHY 

the  historical  ordinance — and,  if  so,  no  art, 
power,  or  cunning  can  prevent  the  destruction 
of  such  a  bungling  work  by  the  advance  of 
the  mental  and  spiritual  movement  of  the 
world ;  or  religion  is  founded  upon  a  super- 
human fact — and,  if  so,  the  hardest  assaults 
cannot  shatter  it,  but  rather,  it  must  finally 
prove  of  service  in  all  the  troubles  and  toils  of 
man ;  it  must  reach  the  point  of  its  true 
strength  and  develop  purer  and  purer  its 
Eternal  Truth."1 

The    fact    that    the    influence    of    Rudolf 
Eucken's  personality  and  teaching  is  spreading 
with   such  rapidity  and  power  from  west  to 
east  and  from  north  to  south  is  a  proof  that 
an  increasing  number  of  men  and  women  are 
aspiring  after  a  religion  of  spiritual  life  sue! 
as    was    presented    by   the   Founder    of    oui 
Christianity.     All  the  Life-systems  of  our 
must    converge    towards    such   a   conceptioi 
of  religion. 

1   The  Truth  of  Religion,  p.  71. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

EUCKEN'S  PERSONALITY  AND  INFLUENCE 

IN  this  chapter  an  attempt  will  be  made  to 
present  in  a  brief  form  some  of  the  most  im- 
portant aspects  of  Eucken's  personality  and 
influence.  His  training  and  the  relation  of 
his  teaching  to  the  German  philosophical 
systems  of  the  present  have  already  been 
touched  upon  in  some  of  the  earlier  chapters. 
But  no  account  of  Eucken's  teaching  is  com- 
plete without  a  knowledge  of  his  personality. 

We  cannot  understand  his  personality  with- 
out bearing  in  mind  Eucken's  nationality. 
He  is  a  man  of  the  North.  A  mere  glimpse 
of  the  deep  blue  eyes  reveals  this  immediately. 
His  ancestors  lived  in  close  contact  with 
Nature,  and  faced  the  perils  of  the  great  deep. 
The  history  of  the  men  of  the  North  has 
witnessed,  along  the  centuries,  a  struggle  for 
existence  as  severe  as  any  struggle  known  in 
the  history  of  our  world.  A  trait  of  Eucken's 
character  almost  entirely  unknown  in  England 
is  his  deep  sympathy  with  the  small  nations 

227 


228  EUCKEN'S  PHILOSOPHY 

of  Europe,  and  especially  with  those  of  the 
North.  He  has  written  and  pleaded  on  behalf 
of  Poland,  Finland,  Norway,  Sweden,  and 
Denmark.  He  finds  that  small  nations,  when 
their  independence  is  preserved,  have  the 
tendency  to  bring  forth  original  characteristics 
of  thought  and  life,  which  are  only  too  apt 
to  get  lost  in  the  bustle  and  mechanism  of  the 
great  nations.  He  has  shown  us  on  several 
occasions  how  much  the  world  is  indebted  to 
its  small  nations  for  the  ideas  and  ideals  which 
have  shaped  its  destiny.  He  believes  with  his 
whole  soul  that  size  does  not  necessarily  mean 
greatness.  When  we  compare  the  greatness 
of  Palestine  and  Greece  with  that  of  the  larger 
countries  of  the  world,  the  latter  sink  into 
insignificance  when  weighed  in  the  balances 
of  the  spirit.  He  has,  during  the  past  few 
years,  several  times  pointed  out  a  danger  to 
personality  and  character  from  the  vast  organ- 
isations which  have  been  created  in  the  various 
departments  of  life  during  the  latter  half  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  The  deeper  person- 
ality of  man  has  receded  more  and  more  into 
the  background  through  the  growth  of  such 
organisations.  This  fact  is  clear  in  the  realms 
of  commerce  and  of  politics.  We  call  a  nation 
"  great "  in  the  degree  in  which  it  succeeds  in 
outstripping  other  nations  in  its  exports  and 
imports,  or  in  forming  alliances  with  its  neigh- 
bouring states  or  with  other  nations.  A  large 
portion  of  the  gains  which  accrue  from  such 


EUCKEN'S   PERSONALITY  229 

unions  is  purely  accidental,  and  these  gains 
cannot  possibly  touch  the  essentials  of  life. 
The  explanation  of  this  is  the  fact  that  the 
centre  of  gravity  has  been  shifted  from  mental 
and  moral  racial  qualities  to  qualities  which 
are  far  inferior  in  mental  and  moral  potency 
and  content.  Thus,  we  witness  the  painful 
inversion  of  values  which  has  taken  place 
during  the  past  fifty  years.  Every  "  small 
nation "  has  to  take  a  secondary  place,  has 
to  become  subservient  to  a  nation  which  may 
possess  for  its  inheritance  but  few  qualities 
besides  those  of  expansiveness  and  force.  The 
small  nation  is  forced  to  submit,  to  develop 
on  lines  entirely  alien  to  its  original  potencies, 
and  to  labour  with  might  and  main  to  fill 
the  coffers  of  the  rich  nation.  The  old  calm 
and  peace,  as  well  as  the  originality  of  the 
small  nations  have  thus  too  often  been  cruelly 
uprooted  ;  the  characteristics  of  working  on 
their  own  original  lines,  and  of  producing 
something  of  essential  value  in  the  history 
of  the  world,  have  been  largely  shorn  of  their 
initiative  and  freedom  in  the  case  of  several 
of  the  small  nations  of  Europe.  Superficiality 
and  indifference  to  deep  national  and  spiritual 
traits  become  the  primary  things,  and  the  life 
of  the  small  nations,  as  time  passes,  tends  to 
become  mechanical  and  servile. 

When  we  survey  the  work  of  the  small 
nations  of  the  Western  world,  we  discover 
achievements  which  have  been  of  immense 


230  BUCKETS   PHILOSOPHY 

value  in  the  civilisation,  culture,  morals,  and 
religion  of  Europe.  And  what  a  distressing 
sight  it  is  to  witness  the  attempts  of  larger 
nations  to  crush  the  spirituality  of  the  smaller 
ones  !  The  attitude  of  Russia  towards  Finland 
and  Poland  is  known  to  all.  A  greed  for 
territory  and  a  passion  for  ready-made  values 
are  characteristics  which  are  only  too  evident 
to-day  in  the  case  of  some  of  the  Great  Powers 
of  Europe.  We  need,  as  Eucken  points  out,1 
a  new  standard  of  valuing  the  national  char- 
acteristics and  the  relationship  of  nation  with 
nation.  Such  standard  must  include  moral 
judgments  and  human  sympathy.  It  is  the 
presence  of  spiritual  powers  such  as  these 
which  constitute  the  really  deep  and  durable 
elements  in  a  nation's  progress.  "  When 
righteousness  goes  to  the  bottom,  then  there 
is  nothing  more  worth  living  for  on  the  earth." 
Eucken's  philosophy  cannot  be  understood 
apart  from  his  intense  interest  in  mankind  and 
its  spiritual  development.  He  goes,  indeed, 
so  far  as  to  say  that  this  is  the  sole  goal  of 
philosophy  ;  its  message  is  to  create  new  spirit- 
ual values  in  the  life  of  the  individual  and  of 
the  race.  Our  systems  of  philosophy  are  pain- 
fully defective  in  this  respect  to-day.  Man, 
as  a  being  with  a  soul,  is  little  taken  into 
account  in  most  of  them.  Is  it  surprising, 
therefore,  that  philosophy  has  not  succeeded, 

1  "  Gesammelte    Aufsatze " :   Die  Bedeutung  der   kleiner 
Nationen,  pp.  47-52. 


EUCKEN'S   PERSONALITY  231 

for  centuries,  in  interesting  or  influencing  the 
intelligent  world  at  large  ? l  It  will  not  succeed 
in  doing  this  until  the  deepest  needs  of  man- 
kind are  taken  to  be  something  more  than 
objects  of  psychological  analysis  or  of  logical 
generalisations. 

Eucken's  personality  is  rooted  in  a  deep  love 
for  humanity  and  its  spiritual  qualities;  and  here- 
in lies  the  essential  reason  of  his  championing  of 
weak  nations  and  pleading  for  the  preservation 
of  their  original  spiritual  characteristics.  These 
qualities  are  pearls  of  too  great  a  price  to  be 
lost  in  a  world  where  so  much  tinsel  passes  as 
what  possesses  the  highest  value. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  see  why  the  small  nations 
of  the  North  feel  that  in  Eucken  they  possess 
a  true  friend  who  sees  clearly  what  they  feel 
instinctively,  and  who  points  out  to  them  the 
path  of  their  spiritual  deliverance. 

It  is  impossible,  also,  to  understand  Eucken's 
system  of  philosophy  without  taking  into  ac- 
count his  religious  experience.  This  aspect 
has  already  been  touched  upon,  but  it  requires 
elucidation  from  a  more  personal  point  of  view. 
Eucken's  philosophy  is  the  result  of  the  ex- 
perience of  his  own  soul.  It  is  something 
which  can  never  be  understood  until  it  is  lived 
through.  Everything  is  brought  back  to  its 
roots  in  the  needs,  aspirations,  and  inwardness 
of  the  soul.  One  must  become  "  converted  " 

1  This  truth  is  pointed  out  most  forcibly  by  L.  P.  Jacks 
in  his  Alchemy  of  Thought,  chap.  i. 


EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

before  he  can  understand  Eucken's  teaching. 
Something  has  not  only  to  be  understood  but 
to  be  lived  through  ;  the  body  and  the  external 
world  have  to  be  relegated  to  a  subsidiary 
place ;  the  intellect  has  to  merge  into  the 
spiritual  intuition  which  is  deeper  than  itself. 
It  is  after  one  has  been  willing  to  pass  through 
this  fiery  furnace  that  the  great  " illumination" 
begins  to  appear.  And  such  an  illumination 
will  increase  in  the  degree  that  service  and 
sacrifice  are  willingly  undertaken  for  the  sake 
of  the  infinite  spiritual  gains  which  remain 
in  store. 

This  element  in  Eucken's  personality  draws 
him  to  everybody  he  comes  in  contact  with, 
and  draws  everybody  to  him.  He  has  drunk 
so  deeply  of  the  experiences  of  Plato  and 
Plotinus,  of  the  great  Christian  mystics  and 
moralists  of  the  centuries,  that  he  sees  the 
value  of  every  soul  that  comes  to  him  for 
help.  It  is  far  from  Eucken's  wish  for  these 
matters  to  be  published.  And  the  present 
writer  will  only  state  the  fact  that  nobody, 
however  ignorant  and  obscure,  has  failed  in 
Eucken  to  find  a  father  and  guide.  Hundreds 
of  men  who  had  either  lost  or  had  never  found 
their  moral  and  spiritual  bearings  in  life  have 
succeeded  in  doing  so  through  coming  into 
contact  with  him.  The  present  writer  re- 
members well  many  a  conversation  among 
students  of  six  or  more  different  nationalities, 
concerning  the  secret  of  Eucken's  teaching 


EUCKEN'S   PERSONALITY  233 

and  influence.  Imagine  Servians,  Poles, 
Swedes,  Scotch,  English,  and  Welsh  meeting 
together  after  a  philosophical  lecture  to  discuss 
the  question  of  the  spiritual  life  and  wondering 
how  to  discover  it !  Eucken's  personality  had 
created  in  their  deepest  being  a  need  which 
could  never  more  be  filled  until  the  Divine 
entered  into  it.  In  the  class-room  the  great 
prophet  makes  it  impossible  for  us  to  content 
ourselves  with  merely  preparing  for  examina- 
tions. The  teacher's  exposition  and  inspiration 
are  creating  a  deep  uneasiness  in  us.  We  feel 
how  limited  and  shallow  our  nature  has  been 
when  we  are  face  to  face  with  a  man  who 
reveals  to  us  the  eternal  values  of  the  things 
of  the  spirit ;  and  who  reveals  them  not  as 
they  have  merely  been  revealed  by  the  great 
thinkers  of  the  world,  but  as  he  himself  has 
felt  and  lived  them.  We  all  become  impressed 
with  the  fact  that  we  are  in  the  presence  of  a 
power  above  the  world  ;  and  the  feeling  of  pain 
is  changed  into  a  feeling  of  strong  optimism 
in  regard  to  the  possibilities  of  our  own  nature. 
We  feel  that  we,  too,  in  spite  of  our  limita- 
tions, can  become  the  possessors  of  something 
of  the  very  nature  akin  to  that  which  our  great 
teacher  possesses.  Eucken  works  a  change  in 
every  man  and  woman  who  remain  with  him 
for  a  length  of  time.  Many  of  us  understand 
something  of  what  Jesus  Christ  meant  to  his 
disciples ;  how  he  created  an  affection  within 
their  souls  which  all  the  obstacles  of  the  world 


234  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

could  never  obliterate.  Eucken  has  done 
something  of  the  same  kind,  on  a  smaller 
scale,  for  hundreds  of  his  old  pupils. 

These  pupils  are  found  to-day  from  Iceland 
in  the  North  to  New  Zealand  in  the  South, 
and  from  Japan  in  the  East  to  Britain  and 
America  in  the  West.1  Many  of  them  have 
risen  to  eminence,  and  all  of  them  have  ex- 
perienced something  of  a  spiritual  anchorage 
in  the  midst  of  the  tempestuous  sea  of  Time ; 
all  alike  cherish  an  affection  for  their  old 

1  Eucken  visited  England  for  the  first  time  during 
Whitsun-week  1911.  He  had  been  invited  by  the 
Committee  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Unitarian  Associa- 
tion to  deliver  in  London  the  Essex  Hall  Lecture  for  the 
year.  A  large  audience  gathered  together  to  see  and  hear 
him,  and  he  received  a  most  cordial  reception.  He  spoke 
in  German  on  Religion  and  Life,  and  the  lecture  has  since 
appeared  in  English.  The  Rev.  Charles  Hargrove,  M.A., 
of  Leeds  (President  of  the  Association)  presided  over  the 
meeting,  and  spoke  of  the  great  importance  of  Eucken's 
growing  influence.  Interesting  addresses  were  also  de- 
livered by  Dr  J.  Estlin  Carpenter,  Principal  of  Manchester 
College,  Oxford;  and  Dr  P.  T.  Forsyth,  Principal  of 
Hackney  College.  At  the  luncheon  which  followed,  Pro- 
fessor Westermarck,  Dr  R.  F.  Horton,  and  others  spoke. 
The  lecture  was  repeated  at  Manchester  College,  Oxford, 
during  the  same  week.  On  Whitsunday  Eucken  preached 
in  the  evening  at  Unity  Church,  Islington,  London,  N., 
at  the  invitation  of  the  writer  of  this  volume. 

In  September  1912  Eucken  sailed  for  the  United 
States  of  America  to  deliver  a  course  of  lectures  at  Har- 
vard University  covering  a  period  of  six  months. 

In  both  countries  he  was  greeted  by  a  large  number 
of  his  old  pupils,  many  of  whom  travelled  long  distances 
to  see  and  hear  him  once  more. 


EUCKENTS   PERSONALITY  235 

teacher — an  affection  which  is  one  of  their 
dearest  possessions.  They  have  helped  to 
spread  his  spiritual  teaching,  and,  along  with 
his  books,  have  made  his  name  known  in  all 
the  civilised  countries  of  the  world.  Some  of 
Eucken's  most  important  works  have  already 
appeared  in  half  a  dozen  languages.  The 
demand  for  them  increases  everywhere.  This 
receptivity  is  a  good  omen  of  better  days. 
The  world  is  beginning  to  get  tired  of  the 
mechanism  and  shallowness  of  our  age,  and  is 
once  more  on  the  point  of  turning  to  the 
spiritual  fountains  of  life.  Where  can  it  find 
a  better  guide  to  lead  it  to  the  waters  of  life 
than  in  Rudolf  Eucken  ? 


CHAPTER  XIV 

CONCLUSION 

IT  will  probably  prove  helpful  at  the  conclu- 
sion to  indicate  the  main  contents  of  Eucken's 
greatest  works  in  order  that  the  reader  who 
turns  to  them  for  the  first  time  may  be  able 
somewhat  to  find  his  bearings.  The  whole  of 
Eucken's  works  turn  around  the  conception  of 
the  spiritual  life.  This  fact  must  be  constantly 
borne  in  mind.  The  term  has  been  repeated 
so  often  in  all  the  previous  chapters  that  the 
reader  may  be  inclined  to  think  that  some 
other  expression  might  well  have  been  ex- 
changed for  it.  But  no  other  term  serves 
Eucken's  meaning,  and  the  recurrence  of  the 
term  has  to  be  endured  in  order  that  it  may 
yield  of  its  rich  content. 

It  has  been  shown  how  Eucken  establishes 
a  new  world  with  its  own  laws  and  values 
within  the  spiritual  life.  The  spiritual  life 
possesses  grades  of  reality  :  it  reveals  itself  from 
the  level  of  connection  of  body  and  mind  and 
of  ordinary  life  right  up  to  Infinite  Love  in 

236 


CONCLUSION  237 

the  Godhead.  Such  a  reality  is  created  within 
the  total  activity  of  the  soul ;  but  it  is  not 
mere  subjectivism  by  virtue  of  the  fact  that 
its  material  comes  to  it  from  without.1  And 
Eucken  shows  that  it  is  thus  a  life  partly 
given  to  man,  and  partly  created  by  him. 
The  "  given  "  elements  have  to  enter  into  man's 
soul.  This  they  cannot  do  without  much 
opposition.  With  the  persistent  energy  of 
the  total  potency  of  the  soul  a  world  of  in- 
dependent inwardness  is  reached  —  a  world 
which  will  have  an  existence  of  its  own 
within  the  soul,  and  which  will  become  the 
standard  by  which  to  measure  the  values  of 
all  the  things  which  present  themselves. 

It  is  this  superiority  of  the  spiritual  life 
which  constitutes  the  essential  factor  in  the 
evolution  of  the  individual's  personality  as 
well  as  in  civilisation,  culture,  morality,  and 
all  the  rich  inheritance  of  the  race.  Such  an 
inheritance  can  be  developed  farther  by  the 

1  Eucken  follows  Kant  in  the  fact  that  after  the  union 
of  subject  and  object  has  taken  place  a  new  kind  of  objectivity 
has  to  be  taken  into  account.  This  result  has  to  be  ad- 
mitted before  knowledge  becomes  possible  at  all.  Eucken 
has  not  dealt  in  a  thorough  manner  with  this  problem, 
although  several  hints  are  given  concerning  the  import- 
ance of  this  transcendental  aspect  in  Kant's  philosophy. 
The  implications  of  such  a  new  kind  of  objectivity  avoid 
the  danger  of  subjectivism,  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  em- 
piricism on  the  other  hand.  Eucken' s  forthcoming  Theory 
of  Knowledge  will  deal  with  this  important  matter.  In 
Erkennen  und  Leben  certain  aspects  of  the  problem  are 
touched. 


238  BUCKETS   PHILOSOPHY 

full  consciousness  of  the  spiritual  life  and  by 
the  exercising  of  it  from  its  very  foundation. 

In  The  Problem  of  Human  Life  Eucken 
sees  in  the  message  of  every  one  of  the  great 
thinkers  of  the  ages,  however  much  he  may 
differ  from  them,  the  vindication  of  a  life 
higher  than  that  of  sense  or  even  of  in- 
tellectualism.  In  one  form  or  another,  they 
all  present  some  world  of  values  which  is  born 
and  nurtured  within  the  mind  and  soul.  All 
these  thinkers  stand  for  something  which  is 
great  and  good.  Eucken  attempts  to  discover 
this  core  in  their  teaching ;  and  in  the  midst  of 
all  the  differences  some  spiritual  truth  and 
value  make  their  appearance.  This  volume 
has  undergone  many  changes,  and  is  now  in 
its  ninth  edition. 

In  The  Main  Currents  of  Modern  Thought 
Eucken  deals,  in  the  first  part  of  the  book,  with 
the  fundamental  concept  of  spiritual  life  as 
this  reveals  itself  in  the  meanings  of  Subjective 
—Objective,  Theoretical — Practical,  Idealism 
—Realism.  The  middle  portion  of  the  book 
deals  with  the  Problem  of  Knowledge  as  this 
is  shown  in  Thought  and  Experience  (Meta- 
physics), Mechanical  —  Organic  (Teleology), 
and  Law.  The  third  portion  of  the  volume 
deals  with  the  Problems  of  Human  Life  as 
these  are  presented  in  Civilisation  and  Culture, 
History,  Society  and  the  Individual,  Morality 
and  Art,  Personality  and  Character,  and  the 
Freedom  of  the  Will.  The  final  portion  deals 


CONCLUSION  239 

with  Ultimate  Problems ;  and  the  two  chapters 
on  the  Value  of  Life  and  the  Religious  Problem 
bring  out  the  deeper  meaning  of  spiritual  life. 

This  volume  has  undergone  many  changes. 
When  it  appeared  in  1878  it  was  little  more 
than  a  history  of  the  concepts  we  have  already 
referred  to.1  But  at  the  present  time  it  deals 
with  the  history  of  the  concepts,  a  criticism  of 
these,  and  finally  the  presentation  of  the 
author's  own  thesis  regarding  the  reality  of 
an  independent  spiritual  life. 

In  Life's  Basis  and  Life's  Ideal  he  analyses 
the  various  systems  of  thought  which  have 
been  presented  to  the  world.  He  finds  many 
of  these  deficient ;  but  although  something 
that  is  contained  in  them  has  to  pass  away, 
they  possess  some  spiritual  element  which 
requires  preservation,  and  which  is  valid 
for  all  time.  None  of  these  systems  is 
final ;  they  have  to  preserve  what  is  spiritual 
within  them,  and  also  merge  it  in  some  newer 
revelation  gained  for  mankind.  Every  system 
of  the  universe  and  of  life  has  to  move;  it 
has  perpetually  to  drop  something  of  its 
accidentals,  and  continually  strengthen  and 
increase  its  essentials.  Everywhere  emphasis 
is  laid  on  the  fact  that  the  spiritual  element 

1  The  volume  was  translated  into  English  and  published 
in  the  United  States  of  America  by  Stuart  Phelps  in 
1880.  I  am  not  aware  that  the  work  exercised  any  great 
influence  at  the  time  either  in  England  or  America. 
Eucken's  "  day  "  had  not  then  dawned. 


240  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

must  be  preserved  and  increased  at  whatever 
cost,  for  it  is  an  element  of  the  highest  value 
for  the  world,  and  constitutes  the  energy  of 
the  world's  upward  march. 

In  the  Einheit  des  G-eisteslebens,  as  well  as 
in  the  Prolegomena  to  this,  the  necessity  of 
a  spiritual  conception  of  knowledge  comes  to 
the  foreground.  All  systems  of  Naturalism 
lack  enough  spiritual  life  within  themselves 
to  meet  the  deepest  needs  of  the  race.  Man 
is  more  than  all  such  systems.  Even  on  the 
grounds  of  the  Theory  of  Knowledge  itself 
man  can  be  proved  to  be  more.  Eucken  deals 
in  these  two  books  with  the  content  of 
consciousness :  that  content  reveals  what  is 
a  Whole  or  Totality,  what  is  beyond  sense,  what 
includes  within  itself  the  isolated  impressions 
of  the  senses  or  of  the  understanding,  and 
what  is  therefore  spiritual  in  its  nature. 

In  the  Kampf  urn  einen  geistigen  Lebens- 
inhalt — a  book  of  the  greatest  value — we  find 
Eucken  at  his  best.  His  attempt  here  is  to 
deal  with  the  struggle  for  the  spiritual  life  and 
the  certainty  of  its  possession.  He  shows  how 
man  has  emerged  out  of  Nature,  and  how  he 
has  moved  in  the  direction  of  gaining  an  inner 
world  during  the  long  course  of  civilisation, 
culture,  morality,  and  religion.  Through 
titanic  struggles  this  inner  world  becomes 
man's  possession,  and  constitutes  the  true 
value  and  significance  of  his  life.  Man  now 
realises  that  it  is  this  world  of  spirit  and  values 


CONCLUSION 

which  constitutes  the  only  really  true  world. 
Issuing  out  of  this  possession  of  the  ever  richer 
contents  of  this  inward,  spiritual  world,  the 
personality  constantly  becomes  something  quite 
other  than  it  was,  and  its  possession  adds  to 
the  inheritance  of  the  spiritual  ideals  of  the 
world.  At  this  source  man  is  in  possession  of 
a  power  of  a  new  kind  of  creativeness  in  any 
field  of  knowledge  or  life  he  may  be  obliged 
to  work.  Nothing  blossoms  or  bears  fruit 
without  the  presence  and  the  power  of  spiritual 
life  in  the  deepest  inwardness  of  the  soul. 

In  The  Truth  of  Religion  Eucken  roams  in 
a  vast  territory.  All  the  oppositions  of  the 
ages  to  religion  are  brought  on  the  stage,  and 
are  made  to  reveal  their  best  and  their  worst. 
He  shows  how  every  system  of  thought,  devoid 
of  the  experience  and  activity  of  the  deepest 
soul,  fails  to  engender  religion.  He  shows 
over  against  all  this  the  intellectual  warrant 
for  religion,  and  passes  from  this  to  the  personal 
search  by  the  soul  for  what  is  warranted  by  the 
intellect  and  by  the  deepest  needs  of  one's 
own  being.  This  has  been  the  meaning  of 
the  religions  of  the  world,  and  this  meaning 
finds  its  culmination  in  Christianity. 

Eucken's  smaller  books,  such  as  The  Life  of 
the  Spirit,  Christianity  and  the  New  Idealism, 
Konnen  wir  noch  Christen  sein?,  and  The  Mean- 
ing and  Value  of  Life,  present  certain  aspects 
of  the  larger  volumes  in  a  simpler  form. 

Eucken  is  at  present  engaged  upon  the 

16 


EUCKEISTS   PHILOSOPHY 

completion  of  a  work  of  great  importance 
dealing  with  The  Theory  of  Knowledge.  His 
system  has  been  stated  to  be  in  need  of  this 
important  corner-stone,  and  he  has  hastened  to 
meet  the  demand.  The  book  will  deal  with 
the  "  grounds  "  of  the  life  of  the  spirit  in  an 
even  more  fundamental  manner  than  any  of 
his  books.  A  preparatory  work,  small  in  bulk 
—Erkennen  und  Leben — has  just  appeared  in 
German,  and  will  be  issued  in  English  in  the 
spring  of  1913. 

In  Erkennen  und  Leben  Eucken  shows  the 
need  of  clearness  in  regard  to  the  concept  of 
the  spiritual  life.  This  work  is  an  introduction 
to  his  forthcoming  work  —  The  Theory  of 
Knowledge.  He  shows  that  the  Problem  of 
Knowledge  can  only  be  answered  through  a 
further  clarification  of  the  Problem  of  Life. 
It  is,  therefore,  necessary  to  show  what  such 
a  Life  is  and  how  it  may  be  lived,  and,  finally, 
how  it  makes  Knowledge  possible.  This  is 
the  only  way  by  which  the  final  convictions 
of  Life  are  able  to  possess  greater  depth  and 
duration. 

Knowledge  is  possible  only  in  so  far  as  man 
participates  in  a  self-subsistent  life.  Without 
such  a  self-subsistent  life  many  intellectual 
achievements  are  possible,  but  they  do  not 
deserve  the  name  of  Knowledge. 

Such  a  self-subsistent  life  must  be  operative 
in  the  foundation  of  our  nature,  but  it  must 
constantly  receive  its  material  from  the  most 


CONCLUSION  243 

important  meanings  and  values  of  the  world. 
The  self-subsistent  life  dare  not  feed  on  the 
mere  analysis  of  consciousness  or  on  the 
material  which  it  already  possesses. 

History  shows  how  a  self-subsistent  life  is 
not  created  through  the  mere  succession  of 
events,  but  is  always  found  as  a  life  which  is 
superior  to  the  perpetual  changes  of  Time. 
Consequently,  every  real  Knowledge  has  some- 
thing sub  specie  ceternitatis  as  its  essence,  and 
this  differentiates  it  from  all  mere  relativism. 

The  movement  of  History  culminates  alter- 
nately in  Concentration  on  the  one  hand,  and 
in  Expansion  on  the  other:  Positive  and 
Critical  epochs  alternate.  Both  aspects  are 
necessary  for  the  growth  of  life. 

In  modern  times  the  growth  of  the  Ex- 
pansion-side of  life  has  destroyed  in  a  large 
measure  the  equilibrium  of  life ;  and  the  task 
to-day  is  to  construct  a  new  Concentration- 
side. 

Such  a  new  Concentration  is  possible :  the 
experience  of  History  testifies  to  its  presence 
in  several  epochs ;  and  there  is  a  deep  longing 
for  it  in  many  quarters  to-day. 

In  order  to  attain  to  such  a  Concentration 
the  "  dead-level "  life  of  the  present  must  be 
overcome,  and  a  turn  must  take  place  towards 
a  new  Metaphysic  of  Life. 

Such  is  the  problem  to-day,  and  no  complete 
answer  is  to  be  found  in  the  past  systems  of 
Metaphysics.  "  The  possibilities  of  Life  and 


244  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

of  Knowledge  are  in  no  way  exhausted,  but  it 
is  only  through  our  own  courage  and  actions 
that  the  possibilities  can  become  actualities  " 
(Erkennen  und  Leben,  p.  161). 

The  various  systems  of  Thought  need  a 
synthesis  which  will  include  them  all.  It  is 
difficult  to-day  to  obtain  a  theory  of  life  which 
does  not  leave  out  of  account  some  essential 
elements.  Is  there  a  possibility  of  discovering 
such  a  synthesis  ?  I  believe  that  Eucken's 
works  answer  this  question.  But  we  wait 
eagerly  for  the  appearance  of  his  greatest 
work,  and  I  think  that,  when  it  appears,  he 
will  more  than  ever  deserve  Windelband's 
designation  of  him  as  "  the  creator  of  a  new 
Metaphysic." 


APPENDIX 


LIST  OF  EUCKEN'S  WORKS 

1866.  "  De  Aristotelis  docendi  ratione."  Pars  I.  De 
particularis.  This  was  the  Doctor's  dis- 
sertation at  Gottingen  University. 

1868.  "  tJber  den  Gebrauch  der  Prapositionem  bei 
Aristoteles." 

1870.  "Uber  die   Methode   und   die  Grundlagen   der 

Aristotelischen  Ethik"  (Separatabdruck  aus 
dem  Programm  des  Frankfurter  Gymnasiums 
von  1870). 

1871.  "Uber  die  Bedeutung  der  Aristotelischen  Phil- 

osophic fur  die  Gegenwart"  (Akademische 
Antrittsrede  gehalten  am  21  November,  1871). 
This  was  in  Basel. 

1872.  "  Die  Methode  der  Aristotelischen  Forschung  in 

ihrem  Zusammenhang  mit  den  philosophischen 
Grundprincipien  des  Aristoteles." 

1874.  "  Uber  den  Wert  der  Geschichte  der  Philosophie" 
(Antrittsrede,  Jena,  1874). 

1878.  "  Die  Grundbegriffe  der  Gegenwart."  This  was 
translated  by  Stuart  Phelps  in  1880,  and  pub- 
lished by  Appleton  of  New  York.  The  fourth 
edition  has  been  translated  by  M.  Booth,  and 
has  been  published  by  T.  Fisher  Unwin  in 
1912.  The  title  of  the  third  German  edition 
was  changed  to  "Geistige  Strdmungen  der 
245 


246  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

Gegenwart."     The  English  edition  is  entitled 
"  The  Main  Currents  of  Modern  Thought." 

1879.  "  Geschichte  der  philosophischen  Terminologie." 

1880.  " Uber  Bilder  und  Gleichnisse  in  der  Philosophic1' : 

Eine  Festschrift. 

1881.  "Zur  Erinnerung  an  K.  Ch.  F.  Krausse"  (Festrede, 

gehalten  zu  Eisenberg   am   100  Geburtstage 
des  Philosophen). 

1884.  "  Aristoteles  Anschauung  von  Freundschaft  und 

von  Lebensgutern." 

1885.  "Prolegomena  zu  Forschungen  liber  die  Einheit 

des  Geisteslebens  in  Bewusstsein  und  Tat  der 
Menschheit." 

1886.  "  Die  Philosophie  des  Thomas  von  Aquino  und 

die  Kultur  der  Neuzeit." 

1886.  "Beitrage  zur  Geschichte  der  neueren  Phil- 
osophie." (Second  edition,  1906,  under  the 
title  "  Beitrage  zur  Einfuhrung  in  die  Ge- 
schichte der  Philosophic.") 

1888.  "Die  Einheit  des  Geisteslebens  in  Bewusstsein 
und  Tat  der  Menschheit."  This  will  be 
published  by  Williams  &  Norgate. 

1890.  "  Die  Lebensanschauungen  der  grossen  Denker." 
The  ninth  edition  appeared  in  1911.  Changes 
and  additions  have  been  made  in  each  succeed- 
ing edition.  English  translation  (1909)  by 
W.  S.  Hough  and  W.  R.  Boyce  Gibson  under 
the  title  "The  Problem  of  Human  Life,  as, 
viewed  by  the  Great  Thinkers  from  Plato  to 
the  Present  Time"  (published  by  Charles 
Scribners1  Sons,  New  York ;  and  T.  Fisher 
Unwin,  London). 

1896.  "DerKampfum  einen  geistigen  Lebensinhalt." 
(Second  edition,  with  many  changes,  1907.) 
A  translation  of  this  volume  will  be  published 
by  Williams  &  Norgate  in  the  spring  of 
1913. 


APPENDIX  247 

1901.  "Das  Wesen  der  Religion.""  (First  and  second 
editions.)  This  essay  was  translated  by  W. 
Tudor  Jones  in  1904,  and  was  published  for 
private  circulation.  It  is  now  out  of  print, 
but  will  soon  reappear  together  with  another 
essay,  "  Wissenschaft  und  Religion." 

1901.  "Der  Wahrheitsgehalt  der  Religion,"  1901. 
(Second  edition,  with  numerous  changes,  1905  ; 
third  edition,  with  changes,  1912.)  The 
second  edition  was  translated  by  W.  Tudor 
Jones,  and  published  by  Williams  &  Nor- 
gate  in  1911  under  the  title  of  "The  Truth 
of  Religion."  A  translation  of  the  third 
German  edition  will  be  published  at  the  close 
of  1912. 

1901.  "Thomas  von  Aquino  und  Kant:  ein  Kampf 
zweier  Welten." 

1903.  "  Gesammelte  Aufsiitze  zur  Philosophic  und 
Lebensanschauung." 

1905.  "  Was  konnen  wir  heute  aus  Schiller  gewinnen  ?" 
(Kantstudien :  Sonderdruck). 

1905.  "  Wissenschaft  und  Religion."  This  comprises 
a  chapter  in  the  collection  of  essays  entitled 
"Beitragezur  Weiterentwickelung  der  Christ- 
lichen  Religion." 

1907.  "  Grundlinien  einer  neuen  Lebensanschauung." 
This  volume  was  translated  by  Alban  G. 
Widgery,  and  published  by  A.  &  C.  Black  in 
1911  under  the  title  of  "Life's  Basis  and 
Life's  Ideal." 

1907.  "  Hauptprobleme  der  Religionsphilosophie  der 
Gegenwart."  (First  edition,  1907;  fourth 
and  fifth  editions  (with  additions),  1912.) 
The  first  edition  was  translated  by  W.  R. 
Boyce  Gibson  and  Lucy  Gibson  under  the 
title  "  Christianity  and  the  New  Idealism  :  a 
Study  in  the  Religious  Philosophy  of  To-day." 


248  EUCKEN'S   PHILOSOPHY 

This  is  published  by  Harper  &  Brothers, 
London  and  New  York. 

1907.  "Philosophic    der    Geschichte."      This    is    an 

essay  in  the  volume  entitled  "  Systematische 
Philosophie "  in  the  series  "  Kultur  der 
Gegenwart." 

1908.  "  Sinn   und  Wert  des  Lebens."      Third  edition 

(with  many  additions),  1911.  The  first  edition 
was  translated  by  W.  R.  Boyce  Gibson  and 
Lucy  Gibson  under  the  title  of  "  The  Meaning 
and  Value  of  Life1'  (Publishers:  A.  &  C. 
Black). 

1908.  "  Einfuhrung  in  eine  Philosophie  des  Geistes- 
lebens."  Translated  by  the  late  F.  L.  Pogson 
under  the  title  of  "The  Life  of  the  Spirit" 
(third  edition,  1911). 

1911.  "Religion  and  Life"  (the  Essex  Hall  Lecture 
for  1911).  This  is  published  by  the  Lindsey 
Press,  London. 

1911.  "  Konnen  wir  noch  Christen  sein  ?  "     A  transla- 

tion of  this  is  in  preparation. 

1912.  "  Naturalism  or  Idealism  ?"  (the  Nobel  Lecture, 

translated  by  A.  G.  Widgery).  This  is 
published  by  Heffer  &  Sons,  Limited,  Cam- 
bridge. 

1912.  "  Erkennen  und  Leben."     A  translation  of  this 

work,  by  W.  Tudor  Jones,  is  in  preparation, 
and  will  be  published  by  Williams  &  Nor- 
gate  in  the  spring  of  1913  under  the  title 
of  "  Knowledge  and  Life :  An  Introduction 
to  the  Theory  of  Knowledge." 

1913.  "  Erkenntnistlehre."     This  volume   will   appear 

early  in  1913.  The  translation  will  also 
appear  during  1913,  and  the  book  will  be 
published  by  Williams  &  Norgate  under  the 
title  of  "  The  Theory  of  Knowledge." 


INDEX  OF  NAMES 


Adamson,  R.,  216. 
Adickes,  217. 
Aristotle,  15. 

Balfour,  A.  J.,  118. 

Bergson,   62,    74,    76,    100,    123, 

131,  138,  193. 
Boehme,  105. 

Bosanquet,  B.,  8,  54,  74,  13*- 
Boutroux,  105. 
Bradley,  F.  H.,  130. 

Caird,  E.,  45,  63,  155,  216. 
Carpenter,  E.,  123. 
Carpenter,  J.  Estlin,  234. 
Class,  G.,  19. 
Copernicus,  60. 

Darwin,  60. 
Descartes,  65. 
Dilthey,  W.,  23,  219. 
Driesch,  H.,  62,  193. 

Fichte,  17,  121. 
Fischer,  Kuno,  16. 
Forsyth,  P.  T.,  234. 

Galileo,  60. 

Gibson,  W.  R.  B.,  224. 
Goethe,  16.  17,  50,  76. 
Green,  T.  H.,  63,  88. 

Haeckel,  19,  64,  212. 
Haldane,  62. 
Hargrove,  C.,  234. 
Harnack,  A.,  56. 
Hartmann,  Ed.  von,  26,  123. 
Hegel,  17,  30,  47,  79,  219. 


Hicks,  G.  Dawes,  216. 
Hb'ffding,  H.,  137. 
Horton,  R.  F.,  234. 
Hiigel,  F.  von,  106, 
Husserl,  23. 
Huxley,  21,  22. 

Jacks,  L.  P.,  231. 
James,  W.,  43,  92,  208,  220. 
Jesus,  cf.   chapters  on  Historical 
Religions  and  Christianity. 

Kade,  R. ,  100. 

Kant,  30,  63,  65,  120,  216,  217. 

Liebmann,  Otto,  16,  23,  216,  217. 
Lipps,  23. 
Lodge,  O.,  163. 
Lotze,  13,  14. 
Luther,  158. 

MacDougall,  W.,  62. 
Mach,  E.,  19. 
Mackenzie,  J.  S.,  206. 
Meredith,  G.,  127. 
Morgan,  T.  H.,  62. 
Miinsterberg,  H.,  19,  22,  63,  72, 
93,  94- 

Nettleship,  R.  L.,  88. 
Ostwald,  W.,  19. 

Paul,  5,  50. 
Paulsen,  F.,  15. 
Phelps,  Stuart,  239. 
Plato,  15,  49,  59,  188. 
Plotinus,  49. 


249 


250 


EUCKEJSTS   PHILOSOPHY 


Reinke,  62. 

Reuter,  13. 

Rickert,  H.,  19,  22,  72,  160,  217. 

Royce,  J.,  63. 

Runeberg,  202. 

Savonarola,  192. 
Schafer,  E.  A.,  20,  62. 
Schelling,  17. 
Schiller,  16,  17,  120,  127. 
Schiller,  F.  C.  S.,  220. 
Schopenhauer,  17,  123,  204. 
Siebeck,  H.,  19. 
Simmel,  G.,  23. 
Socrates,  59. 
Sorley,  W.  R.,  23. 


Taylor,  A.  E.,  206. 
Thomson,  J.  A.,  62. 
Trendelenberg,  15. 
Troeltsch,  E.,  19,  100,  194. 

Vaihinger,  23,  217. 
Volkelt,  19,  71. 

Wallace,  W.,  44,  45. 
Ward,J.,  63,  130,  155. 
Westermarck,  E.,  234. 
Wicksteed,  P.  H.,  56,  211. 
Windelband,  W.,  18,  19,  23,  132, 

216,  217. 
Wundt,  W.,  23,  94. 


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